


Songs Of Yesterday

by schreibfeather



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Eventual Romance, F/M, Female Harry Potter, Friendship, Goblet of Fire AU, Haley Potter, Hogwarts Fourth Year, One-Sided Attraction, Romance, Triwizard Tournament, Yule Ball, kinda slow burn? I don't know...
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2017-01-23
Packaged: 2018-08-27 18:29:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 25,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8411947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schreibfeather/pseuds/schreibfeather
Summary: When Haley Potter loses her godfather in the Department of Mysteries, the present and the future become dark and hopeless. She tries to find comfort in her memories of the past. But will that help her overcome her darkest moment? Basically a selection of events that happened in 4th year with Harry as a girl. Hogwarts-era. 4th Year. fem!harry. one-sidedHaley/Michael, Haley/Draco





	1. Summer Has Come And Passed

_The rattling of the train around her. The chatter outside the compartment she sat in. The sun streaming in through the window from one side. The lack of noise inside her own silent compartment. The green-eyed girl with the lightning-shaped scar on her forehead registered none of that. She didn't even notice the absence of her two best friends of more than five years. She felt numb inside. There was a hole in her chest that nothing could fill. There was nothing to laugh about, nothing to cry about. She didn't even feel bad about the fact that she was once again leaving Hogwarts. Nothing mattered any more. Her world had been smashed to pieces in no more than a second, leaving her haunted by the memory of a single green flash of light and two cruel eyes gleaming with glee and insanity._

_If there was still a tiny part of her left that cared, that part would wish for a time when things had been easier. A time where her life did not lie in shards. A time when happiness and peace were a possibility. That time was gone, but a tiny part of her still wished that she could go back to this simpler and more peaceful time._

...

_(4th Year – Sometime between the First Task and the Yule Ball)_

All year she had felt it. Something was different. Something wasn't right – beside the fact that she _didn't put her name in the Goblet of Fire_. Seriously, she _didn't_. And normally she wouldn't bother with everyone else's opinions on that. Everyone else always knew better about her life than she ever did anyway. But Ron? One of her two best friends in the entire world? How could he not believe her? She hated this. It was just like third year all over again, except now she was the bad guy instead of Hermione. After the first task, however, Ron had finally pulled himself together and admitted that he had been the one in the wrong.

But then she had started to notice the stares. She was used to staring, of course. Throughout her life there had been many kinds of staring. When she was younger, she had been the freak and people had stared at her because they didn't understand her and also because of that strange scar on her forehead. Later at Hogwarts the scar had again been the cause for endless staring, although the reason had changed from skepticism to wonder.

The staring she experienced now was different. Of course now all of Hogwarts stared at her because one: she was still the girl who lived; and two: she was the Hogwarts champion. The _second_ Hogwarts champion. But still, among all these different kinds of staring there was a new, a different kind, which she had no idea what to make of.

A deeply annoyed Haley turned her head and looked around the Great Hall to find the source of the staring. And there it was, at the other end of the hall at the silver-green table. Draco-annoying-little-arrogant-ferret-Malfoy didn't smirk as always like he was superior, or frown like something displeased him.

No, he was staring at her, with a pensive expression on his face, as if she was some sort of puzzle he tried to figure out. And he seemed annoyed. But didn't he always seem that way?

Well, that was the way things currently were and the only thing that pissed Haley off even more was Rita Skeeter. And maybe also the fact that Michael Corner only ever had eyes for Cho Chang. But that was an entirely different story.

"Haley? How far did you come in figuring out your egg?" asked Hermione.

"No further than I was yesterday evening when you asked the last time," grumbled Haley. She hated it when Hermione was in a nagging mood.

"Haley, you know how important it is to find out about the Second Task and we don't even know what the riddle is yet," Hermione said prissily. "You should take this more seriously, really. People have died in this tournament!"

"I know Hermione. You know I'm trying but every time I open it, the blasted thing doesn't stop screaming at me!" Haley said, exasperated.

"So find a way around the screaming." Hermione said matter-of-factly. Haley knew there was no use in arguing with her when she was being like this. Hoping for help, Haley searched out Ron who was suspiciously quiet while eating his breakfast and consequently avoiding looking in their direction. No help to expect from there.

Haley sighed, "I'm not hungry any more. We're almost late for Transfigurations, anyway."

She stood up and waited for the other two, all the while ignoring Hermione's continued nagging.

On the way out of the hall she had the feeling that someone was following her with their eyes. She didn't turn around to check who the person was though. She knew who it was anyway.

…

After Transfigurations the trio was on their way to the greenhouses – it was time for Herbology – when they heard someone running and calling out Haley's name.

In one move they turned around. It was Cedric Diggory. What could he want?

Breathing heavily he came to a stop in front of them.

"Haley! Hi!" Cedric grinned, still catching his breath, "Could I-" He paused, gesticulating toward Haley, "Could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure," Haley said without thinking. Then she noticed the way in which Hermione kept looking back and forth between Cedric and her, meaningfully, before finally settling on raising an eyebrow at Ron.

"Sure?", Haley repeated, sounding unsure now. Did Hermione think he was going to ask her to the Yule Ball? She quickly shook her head. No, it had to be something else.

"We'll head over to the greenhouse first and save you a seat. Come on Ron." And in a flash Hermione ran over to the greenhouses, Ron in tow. That sneaky little-

"I wanted to thank you, Haley." Right, Cedric was still there. "For telling me about the dragon, I mean. You didn't have to do that."

Relieved, Haley shook her head, how stupid of her to think he would ask her to the Yule Ball.

"Don't mention it. You would have done the same. And every one else knew about it, too."

"Still, I want to return the favor." Now there was a playful grin on his face. What was he on about?

"You should take a bath." Haley's eyes widened. She'd had a shower this morning! How dare he-

"You should take your egg and… enjoy a nice long bath with it." Was he crazy or something? Or was he trying to seduce her in some twisted way? Cedric laughed, "Don't look at me like that. I'm just trying to help, seriously." Haley wasn't convinced, though.

"Why don't you use the Prefects' Bathroom, the password is _pine fresh_." He grinned one more time and turned around then, waving his hand good-naturedly. Haley stood there, speechlessly for a few more seconds. Then she remembered that she was late for Herbology and sprinted hurriedly to the greenhouses. There was a pair of eyes that followed her and she saw the annoyed and wary expression on the person's face for a split second, before she reached her destination and didn't bother thinking about them any more.

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the first chapter :)  
> The title of this chapter is from Green Day's "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and the title of the story is from Green Day's song "Before The Lobotomy".
> 
> I know that some things happen in a different order in the books (like when and how Cedric tells canon-Harry about the egg... I'll admit I got influenced by the scene in the movie :D), but let's just say I'm aware of them and Harry is a girl anyway so that's why everything's a little different... Okay? :) This is also posted on fanfiction (.) net, so you could also read it there, if you like. Have fun and tell me what you like or dislike about the story or about Haley or about the weather...  
> Till next time,  
> Feather :)


	2. Riddles And Talking Armours

This is crazy, this is crazy, this is _absolutely_ crazy! Although she kept wondering why she was even considering this, Haley decided to give it a try and take a bath in the Prefects' bathroom, together with her golden egg. Under the Invisibility Cloak, it was easy to get there once everyone else was asleep. Luckily, there were no grumpy caretakers or potion masters lurking around and blocking her path.

But wait- what was that noise? It came from somewhere behind her. Was someone following her? Haley turned toward the noise. It was just a cat strolling about. A white cat. She let out a relieved sigh – luckily it wasn't Mrs. Norris! – and turned toward the door to the left of the Statue of Boris the Bewildered, behind which the bathroom was supposed to be hidden. When she quietly whispered the password and slipped into the bathroom, she wondered again, what was she doing here? She was here now, though, and she wouldn't leave again without at least taking a short bath. There was nobody here, right? Haley wished Hermione was with her. She would surely know a spell or two that revealed hidden people.

Haley would have to find out the old-fashioned way then. "Hello? Somebody in here?", she called. No answer. "I'm taking off my clothes now," she singsonged playfully, but there was still no answer.

"Okay, then," she mumbled to herself and filled up the bathtub with water before starting to take off her clothes. Just to be sure, she kept her underwear on.

Haley waited. She waited for about 20 minutes and nothing happened. Or maybe she simply forgot what she came here for because the water was _so_ nice. There was a kind of howling that pulled her out of her daze. Haley looked around for the noise – while making sure her private parts were concealed – when finally she spotted the gloomy ghost. "Myrtle!" Haley reprimanded. "What are you doing here?"

"How disappointing, it's you," the ghost pouted.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" That was _rude_ , even for Myrtle!

"Well, I hoped the lovely Hufflepuff champion was back again. Or even the little blond one with the haughty expression on his face." Myrtle giggled dreamily and promptly started her howling again.

Blond? Haughty expression? Was she talking about _Malfoy_ , the irritating bane of her existence? What had _he_ been doing here? And how had he known the password? Haley shook her head. She could think about that later. There were more important things at hand.

"Cedric was here? What did he do?" she asked curiously and in a coaxing tone.

"Well, he took a bath." _Obviously_. Haley had to force herself to keep up her cheerful demeanor.

"And he had this thing with him, this _big_ golden egg. Just like yours. Did you really steal that from a dragon? You certainly don't look like you could. But Cedric… isn't he dreamy?"  
Haley breathed in and out slowly, to keep herself calm.

"What," she asked with forced sweetness, "What did he do with the egg?"

"It was strange really, you see," Myrtle said. "He threw the egg into the water and..."

Haley didn't wait for more, instead she grabbed her golden treasure and dipped it into the water. She waited for only a second before diving underwater herself.

_Come seek us where our voices sound,_  
_We cannot sing above the ground,_  
_And while you're searching ponder this;_  
_We've taken what you'll sorely miss,_  
_An hour long you'll have to look,_  
_And to recover what we took,_  
_But past an hour, the prospect's black,_  
_Too late, it's gone, it won't come back._

The voices Haley heard once the egg was open seemed to come from another world. They sounded dream-like and dangerous at the same time. Dangerous because the singing was so beautiful it made her forget she had to get away from it to breathe.

Haley hurried to get her head out of the water and sucked in breath after breath greedily. The beauty of the voices had been so overwhelming that Haley didn't remember the words that were sung. So she took a deep breath and dove underwater again. This time she really listened to the words and after listening to it a few times more, she knew the lyrics by heart.

"The lake..." she mumbled. "They must mean the lake. So the Second Task takes place at the lake? Or even worse, inside it?" Haley sighed. "How am I supposed to stay underwater for a whole hour?"  
Myrtle had started humming along to the egg's song, only stopping to throw in her own two cents every now and then. "Yeah, and without breathing at that. Now you'll only have to find out whose voices are calling so maliciously."

Haley got the feeling Myrtle knew more about this than she let on. It was time for some wild guessing! What creature could be living in the lake that sang like an angel? Ariel? The little mermaid? Haley chuckled to herself. But seriously, didn't Lupin mention something about merpeople in third year? "Perhaps… do merpeople live in the lake?"

Myrtle blinked. "Well, that was fast. How did you know? It took our dear Cedric almost half the night to figure that out." The ghost giggled again. Who knew what she was thinking about _now_.

"So… the merpeople are going to steal something that I have to get back within an hour?" Haley guessed. "Great! Then I'll only have to find out how I'm going to stop breathing for an hour."

"Exactly!" Myrtle agreed, "I hope our dear Cedric won't drown, though," she mused before adding, "On the other hand, it wouldn't be so bad, now would it? If he became a ghost..." She started to hum again. Haley had never seen her in such a good mood before! Except for that one time when Hermione had managed to turn herself into a cat, that is.

After getting out of the water and putting her clothes back on she left the bathroom, caught up in her own worried thoughts. Without taking notice of her surroundings, she turned a corner and ran head-first into a suit of armour.

"Sorry," she muttered automatically, before realizing that it was only an armour! An armour with eyes. An armour with grey eyes that stared at her in surprise, reminding her of how Hedwig looked whenever Pig did something unexpected. Upon further inspection, she saw that the person was only wearing the metal helmet.

Still, how did he even see her under the Invisibility Cloak? Oh. In her hazy state of mind she had forgotten to put on the Cloak, instead she was holding onto one corner, dragging it behind her. Hastily, she pushed it into her bag along with the Golden Egg. It was a testament of how unnerved Haley was, that she didn't even question why the boy in front of her was wearing a helmet. For a moment no one said a thing. Then they both started talking at the same time.

"Did you follow me?"

"I didn't see a thing!"

What? "So you _did_ follow me, you sneaky little pervert!"

"I told you, I didn't see a thing!" Haley had never seen Draco Malfoy this flustered before; the visible part of his face was almost as red as Ron's ears! Then he seemed to remember who he was. "As if I would want to know what you look like without clothes. I'll happily live without that nightmarish image in my head."

He was still a little red around the cheeks and for some reason this made Haley believe him. She simply had to believe him. Just the thought of any other scenario was unbearable.

"Fine. So what were you doing around here at this time? Shouldn't you be _long_ asleep?"

"I was just… You shouldn't be up either, you know… Your hair is _wet_."

He said it like it was the most curious thing he ever _heard_. As if the state of her short raven locks somehow _puzzled_ , somehow _offended_ him.  
"Yeah… because I took a bath. Malfoy, are you even awake? Are you sleep-walking right now? Is that why you're wearing this helmet?"

"What?" Finally he stopped looking at her hair and looked at her as if seeing her for the first time.

"I'm… what? I'm not wearing a helmet," he sad pointedly. Was he really sleep-walking? Or was he simply too embarrassed to admit it?

"And also, I don't _sleep-walk_ , Potter. A Malfoy does not _sleep-walk_ ," he sneered disdainfully.

Haley had to roll her eyes. There he goes again. Stupid, arrogant git! She didn't have the patience for this. "Look, Malfoy. I'm tired. I'm confused. And as you cleverly noted, my hair is wet, so excuse me if I don't feel like throwing insults back and forth right now. Let's continue this tomorrow, shall we?" Exhausted Haley turned around and started walking in the direction of the Gryffindor Tower.

"So… Diggory bailed on you?"

Haley stopped in her tracks. What was _that_ supposed to mean?

"What are you talking about?" Haley whispered slowly, not making a move.

"Well, wasn't he going to help you with your egg? In return for… you know… certain favours?"

In one second Haley turned around and stepped up to Malfoy until she was right in front of him.

"What. Did. You. Say?" she growled, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"I just-" Haley grabbed the collar of his almost black, bottle green cloak, effectively silencing him.

"Why else would a guy tell you to meet up at night in a _bathroom_? Come on, how stupidly naive are you?" he spat venomously.

To say she was confused was an understatement. So Malfoy _had_ been spying on her. How else would he know about the Prefects' Bathroom and the password and the egg? But what did he want then? "It wasn't – he wasn't – he didn't mean it like that. He-", she stopped, why was she even telling him this? "He's into Cho anyway. Everyone knows that." He's not the only one, Haley thought sadly.

"And what about you? Who sets _your_ heart on fire?" The question left her so perplexed that she let go of Malfoy's collar. That's probably what he'd been aiming for. The manipulative git.

"As if I'd tell _you_ that," she muttered, looking at the ground shyly and trying not to think about Michael Corner. Malfoy, unsurprisingly saw right through her.

"There is someone! There really _is_ someone. I can't wait to find out who the unlucky chap is. Probably Longbottom or some other loser, right?"

Although he was laughing and seemingly had the time of his life, Haley had the feeling it was all fake. His heart wasn't in it. Presuming Malfoys _had_ hearts. Yawning tiredly Haley mumbled, "Leave Neville alone, Malfoy. He's a hundred times better dating material than _you_ anyway." With that and a superior look on her face she turned around again, leaving Malfoy finally behind.

"It's not Diggory, though, is it?" Malfoy called behind her. He was unbelievable.

Haley kept walking and only looked back for a second to answer cheekily,

"Guess you'll have to find out at the Yule Ball along with everyone else."

She winked at him and after turning a corner, put on her Invisibility Cloak, not looking back. She still didn't know why he had been spying on her.

....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who wants to find out who Haley goes to the Yule Ball with? Who do you think she should go with? You'll find out soon :) Thank you to the people who read this and to my beta :)
> 
> Till next time,  
> Feather :)


	3. Won't You Be My Bloody Valentine?

The Yule Ball drew nearer and nearer. Ever since Haley had found out how to open the Golden Egg, Hermione stopped nagging her about it. The golden trio would now spend hours in the library, looking for a way that would help Haley survive the Second Task. To everyone's dismay they made frustratingly little progress. Equally as frustrating was the prospect of the Yule Ball and the fact that Haley still didn't know who she was going to go with. It wasn't for a lack of suitors, though.

Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown had told her enviously that there was next to no guy at Hogwarts that wouldn't want to be her date. Before _tactfully_ adding that it was not so much because of her looks but due to her being the Hogwarts Champion and not to forget, the _Girl Who Lived_. What a bunch of lovely girls. In any case, either they had told her lies or spread wrong information without knowing it, because Haley didn't see a queue of guys lining up in front of her, waiting for their turn to ask her to the Yule Ball.

There had been a few of course, she was _Haley Potter_ after all, but there had been no one so far, with whom she could see herself actually going to the Ball. She would never forget the disastrous morning when the Creevey brothers had asked her during breakfast. Both of them! Constantly interrupting and trying to outshine the other. Thinking back, it was quite funny but while it happened Haley had wished she could vanish as fast as the cornflakes Ron was shovelling into his mouth.

On the other hand, maybe the other boys were afraid of her and what her name brought with it. Attention. Fame. Danger. Envy? The list was endless and even Haley didn't want to go out with herself. Or with Zacharias Smith for that matter. She hadn't known there was a way to simultaneously compliment yourself and insult the person you're trying to get to date you. Well, Ginny had _accidentally_ misfired one of her Bat-Bogey hexes at him and he hadn't bothered her since.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Hermione wanted to know, of course she had noticed the way Haley was repeatedly sending longing glances at the Ravenclaw table.

"I can't. You know that he likes Cho. He always saves up her favourite pudding at dinner for her and last year I saw him always following her around after Quidditch. How am I supposed to compete with that? And it's not like I can't see why he likes her. She is just so beautiful and I..." She sighed, stabbing her carrots in resignation.

"Haley Petunia Potter! Don't give me that crap! Even _if_ you happened to be as ugly as a toad, don't you think it comes down to more than just beauty? You – what about intelligence? Wit? Kindness? Bravery! You really shouldn't date a guy that likes you only for your looks anyway. I never understood what you liked about Michael in the first place."

"Quiet, Hermione! Someone might hear you!" Haley was about to list all the bazillion reasons why Michael Corner was a great guy when Hermione scream-whispered, "He's staring at you again!"

What? Michael was staring at her? Haley's heart leaped and she looked excitedly toward the Ravenclaw table. Michael was staring at a girl indeed. But to her immense disappointment the girl's hair was long, sleek and shiny and her eyes were dark and-

"Not Michael! Look, it's Malfoy! Did he have lemons for breakfast?"

"Doesn't he always look that way, though?" Ron, who was glad they were done talking about _boys_ , chimed in, his mouth full with pumpkin jam.

"I don't think I've ever seen him this annoyed, though. Ron! Don't be so obvious!" Hermione chided.

Malfoy again. Haley couldn't fathom what should be so special about the way Malfoy looked at – yeah right. He wasn't even staring at _her_ but at Michael…

"Are you two _blind_?" Haley asked rudely, "He's clearly staring down Michael. And he looks _really_ pissed off. Probably has a crush on Cho, too."

"But just now he was staring at-"

"I don't care who bloody Malfoy bloody stares at, okay! I don't even want to know what Michael Corner does or doesn't like, I just-" This was all too much. The Tournament, the egg, the Second Task, the Yule Ball… she certainly had enough on her plate without adding stupid boys to her list.

"I'm going to the library," Haley muttered, marching toward the doors.

"Haley, wait, you haven't finished your plate!"

Haley had to suppress a smile. Sometimes she really wanted to know what it was like in Ron's head.

...

"Hello Haley. Do you mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full and I don't want to sit with the Slyth-"

"Sure, Neville. I can't concentrate right now anyway."

"Why aren't Hermione and Ron with you?"

"I don't know. They should be here soon, though. Hermione forgot something in the common room and Ron went with her. They're helping me prepare for the Second Task."

"Well, what is it that you have to do? Look, I got this super interesting book from Professor Moody about water plants and plankton and-"

Haley tensed, Michael Corner – followed by a couple of Ravenclaw guys – had entered the library.

"Hide me, Neville!" She grabbed the voluminous book he had brought with him, opened it to a random page (it was an entry about a _Sillyweed_ or something equally nonsensical) and hid behind it.

"You know, maybe you should just ask him," Neville whispered, "How else is he supposed to know that you like him?" Wow, was this really Neville on the other side of the book? When had he become this insightful and wise?

"I can't," Haley shook her head sadly, "He likes-"

"Cho Chang?"

"Exactly. How did you know?"

"Probably because he's walking towards her right this moment. With this hyper-determined look on his face."

" _What_?" With a _clunk_ the book fell from her hands and onto the table. Frantically, she looked around and without a doubt, that was Michael. And he was indeed walking toward an unassuming Cho, looking like he was either planning to get down on one knee or pluck the stars from heaven.

Haley was on her feet before she knew it. She ran toward Michael who was strutting toward Cho and just as he was about to get Cho's attention, Haley squeaked in an unusually high pitch, "Michael! Hi! I wanted to… hear your opinion on something. Could you come with me for a second?"

"I-" Before he was able to say no, Haley had grabbed his arm and dragged him to a more secluded corner.

"What is it?" Michael asked, he still seemed surprised from Haley's unexpected behaviour.

"I was just about to-"

Later, Haley wouldn't know how it happened. She never even actively made the decision to do any of this, starting from running after him.

"Willyougoballwithme?" She threw at him in one word, her heart thumping furiously and still holding his arm in a fierce grip.

"I-what?" Michael babbled, looking immensely confused.

Haley bit her lips nervously. Why couldn't she talk in a way that people understood like any normal human being? When she repeated her words she made sure to say each word slowly and clearly.

"Will.. you.. go to the ball… with me?" Haley couldn't look into his eyes, her left hand – which wasn't holding onto Michael's arm – was shaking madly and she cursed herself for listening to Neville.

After a moment of silence he started to talk in a soft voice, "Haley, I-" He put his right hand on top of hers and removed it from his arm gently, "I never really thought about you this way..."

Haley felt a pang in her heart and she believed it would surely break in the next moment. She still couldn't look at him. There was a hand on her chin, then, forcing her to lift up her head and meet his brown eyes.

"Please don't be sad, I- I have someone else that I like. Just now, I was going to ask her."

Haley had to get out of here. Her throat began to tighten up and if Michael kept talking, she wouldn't be able to prevent herself from crying in front of him. She tried to calm herself down by breathing in and out slowly and after a few seconds she whispered,

"It's fine, I- I hope she says yes." Still swallowing down the tears, Haley half turned around but apparently Michael wasn't finished yet.

"Look, I really am sorry. If it wasn't for Cho, maybe we could-"

"I said, it's _fine_ , Michael." Did he actually have to say her _name_? This was better. With the help of anger she was able to walk back to her and Neville's table, her head held sort of high and her dignity almost intact.

"How did it go?" Neville asked carefully, seemingly expecting the worst. Haley really didn't want to talk about this now. She threw her belongings into her bag and started to get up from her seat when a person marched over and sat down in the seat next to Neville's and opposite her.

Oh, this was just _great_. The last person Haley wanted to see right now. And he was witnessing her most vulnerable moment? This was bloody _perfect_.

"Yeah, Potter, how'd it go?"

There were few things Haley hated more than Draco Malfoy's arrogant drawl.

"Michael Corner? Interesting choice, Potter. I'm a little disappointed it wasn't Longbottom, here. I have been seriously rooting for him."

And the smirk was there as well. How she wished she could wipe it off his face with a nice little hex once and for all.

"I'm not in the _mood_ , Malfoy," Haley spoke through gritted teeth. She wasn't going to take the bait. Had she put everything in her bag? She would just leave without listening-

"Come on now Potter, don't be like that. Didn't Corner say you still had a chance, if you got rid of the other girl? I know one or two harmless spells, that would do the trick," he was looking at his fingernails now. "All you have to do is ask. _Nicely._ "

It was strange, really. Somehow Haley got the feeling that there was a completely different meaning hidden behind the words Malfoy was saying and she wasn't sure if he himself was even aware of it. Had he been _eavesdropping_ on her conversation? Well, arguing with Malfoy at least had one good side: she could forget about the disaster that was her heart for a little moment.

"You know what?" It was her turn to be vicious now, "First of all, I don't talk to _ferrets_ and second", she allowed herself a victorious grin, when she saw how the expression on Malfoy's face hardened, "I already feel bad for the poor girl that'll have to spend the ball looking at _your_ pointy face. But then again, you could always ask a sister or a cousin of yours. Considering your incestuous pureblood history, no one will be surprised."

It felt truly satisfying to see the smirk completely gone from Malfoy's face. Instead he looked ready to kill, now. But what did Haley care? She wasn't afraid of him. Far from it.

In her rush to get out of the library she didn't think about Michael once. She also didn't see Malfoy pushing Neville out of his chair, grabbing the book from the table and leaving the library after her.

...

Glad that she was done for the day, Haley more fell than walked into the common room.

What awaited her there would have been funny, if she didn't know the feeling herself all too well. Ron was sitting in a corner in the back, looking like someone had stolen his favourite teddy bear.

"Hey, mate," Haley called when she had almost arrived at his corner, "You look just like I felt when Michael Corner walked all over my heart earlier today." She sank into a seat next to him and raised an eyebrow questioningly. Sometimes she used this kind of "pet name" with Ron and what had started as a joke, made her feel connected to him in a brotherly way now. She didn't care that people called her a "tomboy" because of that behind her back. It simply was _their thing_ and Haley suspected it made Ron feel less like the "odd guy" and more included around her and Hermione. Except when they talked about _boys_ , that is.

Ron looked like a fish out of the water, when he tried to answer, but he couldn't say a word.

"He asked Fleur to the ball," Ginny piped up from where she was sitting on his other side.

"Oh," Haley offered, "Well, how'd it go?"

Once again Ron tried to answer but it seemed he was still in a state of shock.

"Um, he…" Ginny began, "She passed by with her friends and then he-"

"It just burst out of me! I couldn't control it," Ron sputtered, sounding like he couldn't believe his own words, "You have to believe me, Haley, I don't know how it happened! I saw her… and those Beauxbatons girls, they're not from this world, I tell you!"

"It was more shouting than asking, apparently," his little sister added helpfully.

"And then… I just ran… I couldn't stay there!"

Ron looked at Haley in a way that seemed to be asking her how all of that could have happened. Haley knew that feeling all too well, considering her own conversation with Michael…

"I know that feeling. I asked Michael Corner. He… said… he was going to ask Cho Chang."

She bit her lip, filled with a sudden sadness.

"And who had the time of his life, witnessing it? Our little ferret friend, of course."

"I'm sorry," Ginny whispered sympathetically, reaching out to pat Haley's hand gently.

"It's fine," she assured for the hundredth time today, it seemed. She didn't know whether the statement was true, though.

"I guess I'll have to go alone after all…" She sighed dejectedly.

That's when Ron found his voice again, "Wait a second, you're – a _girl_."

"Yeah… so?" It was like Ron saw her for the first time.

"Couldn't I go with you? Or… Hermione? That way at least two of us will have a partner."

Haley didn't like the triumphant look on his face. It didn't feel right, going to the ball with him, when he was more a brother to her than anything else. When there was Hermione on the other side… But what if those two went to the ball together? Would their relationship change? And what about Haley then?

"I don't think you-" Ginny spoke up hesitantly, "Hermione has a date already."

Ginny couldn't look either of them in the eye. What was she talking about? Or better yet, _who_? Surely Haley would have been the first one Hermione told, if someone had asked her out. Right?

Ron scoffed, "Sure. She just said that because she didn't want to go with Neville," he laughed again, disbelieving.

But the uncomfortable look on Ginny's face said something different. Haley didn't believe this!

"I'm telling you, she's lying. Don't you think so, too, Haley?

"Who's lying?" Uh-oh. That sounded dangerously like Hermione.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted good-naturedly, "You don't have a date yet, have you? For the ball, I mean." There was something in the air. A kind of tension that told Haley it was only a question of time before something was going to go horribly wrong.

"I – actually, I do."

But Ron went on without listening, "So, I was thinking… _we_ could go together. Or I could go with Haley, since Michael Corner blew her off. Or… I could go with _you._ "

There was this urgency in his voice when he mentioned going together with Hermione, but Haley doubted that he was aware of it.

"Well, as I said, somebody asked me already."

"Come on now, you don't have to pretend any more. We know that you only said that to Neville because you didn't want to offend him."

Hermione's eyes became slits. Haley flinched. This could only end badly.

"Oh really. Is that so. I'm _glad_ you're such an expert when it comes to my dating life. But as always your capacity of logic and emotional understanding is not enough to lead you to the right conclusion!" Ron gaped. Now he seemed to be waking up from his trance-like state.

"And don't be so surprised over the idea that somebody noticed I actually am a girl before you, Ronald Weasley!" With that she stormed away, not looking back. To say Ron was baffled was an understatement.

"What was that?" He whispered exasperatedly. Haley just shook her head.

"She couldn't have been telling the truth, could she?" Ron asked in a small voice.

Haley shrugged. But deep inside, she knew Hermione had been telling the truth. She would have to go ask her herself.

...

It was late when Haley finally went up to the dorm room. She hadn't had the heart to leave Ron alone in the state he was in, although it _had_ been his own fault. After a long and tedious game of chess – which had lifted Ron's spirits if nothing else – they had decided to call it a night.

As a result, Haley found everyone in her dormitory to be asleep already. But… was that a flicker of light that shone from between the curtains of Hermione's bed? On her tip-toes Haley crept toward the bed to lift one curtain and see if she was still awake. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that Hermione was reading a book. With a snort, Haley slipped through the curtains and sat down, cross-legged, opposite her at the end of the bed.

" _The Hitchhiker_ , again?" Haley was referring to the book that looked like it had been read at least a hundred times. Hermione didn't answer or show that she had noticed her in another way.

"You know, this book has always reminded me of Ron," Haley whispered softly, "Sometimes it's quirky and fun. Other times it's offending and as absurd as it can get and you wonder," she paused to see what Hermione was thinking, she was still looking at her book intently, "you wonder if there is anyone in the world who understands only half of it. But in the end, it's always there to cheer you up when you need it." Hermione smiled a tiny bit at that.

"I wonder..." She bit her lips, "I wonder, if that's the reason I like it so much."

Haley wasn't sure if they were still talking about the _book_.

"Did he make you play chess again?" Hermione asked after a little while.

"How can you tell?"

"Well, you looked like you just lost in a battle. And… earlier, Parvati grumbled something about having to go to bed early, because she didn't feel like watching another one of those 'boring chess games'."

"Oh." There was a short silence, then Haley whispered, "You could have told me, you know."

Finally Hermione met her eyes, putting the book down.

"It's not like I didn't want to tell you… I… Well, I couldn't tell Ron, obviously. You've seen his reaction. And I didn't want to make you hide this from him. There's this special friendship you two have, haven't you noticed? It's different from _our_ friendship or mine and Ron's. I didn't… want to come between that. Especially after you just started talking to each other again."

Haley was confused, "What do you mean 'special friendship'?"

"Well, you both like quidditch and chess and sometimes you talk in a certain way. Just the two of you. I guess… it still goes back to when you two were friends and I wasn't a part of it... yet."

Haley put her hand on top of Hermione's, "I never knew you felt that way. You're as much a part of the golden trio as Ron is or even me."

" _Even you_?" Hermione raised her eyebrows mockingly.

"Oh, stop it," Haley grinned, "You're my best friend. Heck, you're like my sister that I never had and I like to think that sooner or later we would have become friends either way. I'm sorry that you feel like you can't talk to me about certain things because you're afraid how it will effect my friendship with Ron."

"It's not that big of a deal, really," Hermione said, looking touched and embarrassed at the same time.

"But it is!" Haley insisted, "I want you to know, that in the future you can come to me with anything. No matter, if it involves Ron or not. Don't worry, I won't tattle on you," she added in a conspiratorial tone just to make Hermione laugh. Which she did. Playfully she hit Haley's shoulder.

"How can you be so nice to me when you didn't exactly have a wonderful day, yourself?"

"Ah, you heard about Michael," Haley sighed. Hermione gestured toward the other beds with a meaningful glance.

"Parvati and Lavender?" Haley asked and Hermione nodded gravely.

"Great. I'm guessing by tomorrow morning the whole school knows." Life was just _peachy_.

"But I guess I should have anticipated that considering Malfoy was there, too," she buried her face in her hands.

"Malfoy was there?"

"Yeah, he.. he witnessed the whole scene and made sure to remind he how pathetic I am."

Hermione looked at her sympathetically.

"Don't worry, I didn't let him get away with it. I told him I don't talk to ferrets and that he should go to the ball with someone from his incestuous family," she was really proud of that insult.

"You did?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Yeah and then I stormed out," she giggled and Hermione joined in. The expression on Malfoy's face had been too comical.

When she had calmed down somewhat, Hermione said, "So… I guess you'll have to go with Zacharias Smith, after all. Or what about Ernie? No, wait, I think he's going with Hanna already. Or maybe Justin, I told you he's always had a thing for you. Well, _after_ it was clear that you weren't the heir of Slytherin anyway. I'm sure he's a better choice than _Michael Corner._ "

"Hermione, breathe. I really don't know what you have against Michael… Don't worry, though, there has to be someone in this castle that is at least fourteen, male, nice, dateless and not in love with Cho Chang!" They both purposely didn't mention Ron.

"You're right," Hermione smiled encouragingly, "What's your issue with Cho Chang, though?"

"You mean, beside the fact, that Michael follows her around like a puppy? I just don't get why everyone likes her so much. Even Malfoy has a crush on her! Sure, she _is_ beautiful but is that really all that matters? I'm so glad I'm not a guy. Who knows, maybe I'd be under her spell then, too. But then again, I don't think I could ever like a person just because they have a pretty face."

Hermione coughed and it sounded suspiciously like the words 'Michael Corner'.

"What?" Haley asked astonished.

"Nothing," was the innocent reply.

Haley frowned, then she noticed something, "Wait. You still haven't told me who you're going to the ball with!"

"Oh," Hermione looked at her hands and her cheeks were reddening.

"I don't think I should tell you-"

"Hermione. What did we agree on just a minute ago?"

Hermione looked at her with big eyes that reminded her of Dobby when he was pondering whether he should say something or not. Haley simply raised her eyebrows and waited.

"Fine, I'll tell you!" It came out like a gunshot.

"It's Viktor." Who? Haley frowned.

"Viktor?"

"Krum. Viktor Krum," she bit her lips bashfully.

For a moment nobody said a word, then Haley grinned.

"Wait till I tell Ron," she burst out, trying not to laugh. It was late after all.

"You can't! That's not funny. Stop grinning." But Hermione was grinning, too.

 

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woot! This is a long one! Thank you so much for reading and leaving kudos :) And thank you to my beta as well :)  
> Who are you guys rooting for? Neville? Michael? Malfoy? Ron? And how did you like the "Hitchhiker" reference? I really wanted to include this little scene between Hermione and Haley because I always liked the friendship the two have in canon. And what do you think of my Michael Corner?
> 
> Oh right, the title is from Green Day's "Angel Blue". Yes, I admit it, I am a Green Day fan :D Their new album is simply amazing!!  
> Leave me your thoughts and have a wonderful day !  
> Till next time,
> 
> Feather :)


	4. Maybe This Time

As it turned out at breakfast, yesterday had been a day of rejections. Haley was pouring herself some pumpkin juice, when she heard someone clearing their throat behind her importantly. She didn't turn around right away, because she was busy keeping her two best friends from arguing some more. The person cleared their throat again, louder this time. Annoyed, she turned around and while doing that, she spotted Ginny glancing in her direction from the corners of her eye.

Oh crap. What was Michael Corner doing at the Gryffindor table? And even worse, right in front of Haley? She swallowed nervously, her heart beating wildly.

"Hey," Michael said, sounding not half as nervous as she felt, "So… did you sleep well?"

What? Was he seriously asking her that? _Well I definitely didn't cry over you, in case you were wondering_ , she thought irritatedly.

"Oh… thank you. I slept fine… And you?" she added stupidly. She could hear Ron snorting from her right side.

"Oh… that's… great! Me…too. I…" With his left arm he scratched his neck bashfully, "Um… I…"

Haley stared at him, astounded that he could be uncomfortable as well. It didn't last for long; in the next moment he seemingly remembered who he was and what he was here for.

"I-Look, I'm sorry about rejecting you, yesterday. I know how that feels now. It _really_ sucks."

Did that mean what Haley thought it meant? He looked kind of sad and Haley wondered if she should say something comforting but all she could do was stare at him. After what felt like an eternity Michael continued talking, "Yeah, so, apparently she already has a date and I know it must seem kind of inconsiderate… and I understand if you don't want to any more, but…"

Haley's heart thumped furiously in her chest. He raised his eyebrows meaningfully, but didn't say another word. Wasn't he actually going to _ask_ her?

"But…what?" If he hadn't hurt her by turning her down, she might have put him out of his misery by now.

"But…"

It wasn't only nervousness that he gave off, also… could it be boredom? Annoyance?

"Come on man, aren't you at least gonna ask properly?"

Haley turned right. What was Ron thinking? She didn't need someone defending her. But then again, it _was_ kind of sweet. She turned to Michael again. He seemed to be pondering whether he should start arguing with Ron or simply ignore him. More and more people looked in their direction now, so he decided to do the latter and finish his mission.

"Haley?" He smiled at her softly.

"Yes?" Haley was mesmerized by the smile. She knew it was pathetic but she didn't care as long as he kept smiling at her like that.

"I'm sorry again for rejecting you but regardless of that… will you do me the honour of going to the Yule Ball with me?"

The more prideful part of her wanted to say _no_ but the treacherous, infatuated other part said, _screw pride_ , so there was really nothing else to do but say _yes_.

"Okay," she breathed, a shy smile lighting up her face.

Michael smiled back contentedly, before raising his right hand in a salute and walking back to the Ravenclaw table. Haley turned back around on the bench and noticed several pairs of eyes quickly looking away from her. Then there was a noise. It sounded as if glass had been shattered, but she didn't see what had caused it. It was like a bubble surrounded her, shielding her from anything potentially negative. She didn't think _anything_ could ruin her day now. Not even the potions essay that was due tomorrow. She giggled. And for some reason Ron laughed with her.

"Look at Malfoy! Seems like he can't hold a drink without help. And he doesn't even have paws as an excuse anymore!"

Oh, so he was laughing because of _Malfoy_. Haley glanced over toward the Slytherin table. The blond boy was covered in a deep red liquid. It almost looked as if he had been sliced up by a nasty curse that someone had misfired. She guessed it was only grape juice. The pretentious git probably drank it from a wine glass and pretended it was wine. What an idiot.

"He looks ready to kill someone! Haley, did you do something to upset him recently? Because he's star-"

"Malfoy is _always_ staring," Haley interrupted, already guessing what Hermione was going to say, "So what? He doesn't need a reason for that and if you ask me, it's a tactic to sabotage me. He's trying to unsettle me and divert my attention from the tournament. Remember those 'Potter Stinks' badges? It couldn't be more obvious. Seriously, just ignore him." Haley didn't want this to put a damper on her blissful mood.

"I don't think that this is all there is to it, though," Hermione argued.

"What else should there be? It's exactly like that night when I went to the Prefects' bathroom and he was outside spying on me."

"He was _there_?"

" _Spying_ on you?"

"In the _bathroom_?"

It was hard to tell who of his best friends was more scandalized. They were both watching her with huge eyes.

"No, I didn't mean it like that. He didn't – I – he didn't _see_ anything. He wasn't even _in_ the bath room." Haley turned as red as Ron's ears.

"So? Where was he then?"

"Well, outside! And this is exactly why I didn't tell you about it. It's not a big deal! He was simply trying to startle me just like he is now!"

Hermione looked like she wanted to keep arguing but then she seemed to change her mind.

In a calm voice she concluded, "I do appreciate that you're not letting Malfoy disrupt your focus. But if you're _this_ determined to find a way to actually survive the Second Task, shouldn't you be in the library then, doing research instead of day-dreaming about Michael Corner?"

Haley really hated when Hermione used her own arguments against her. Why couldn't she just be happy for her? Looking for help, she turned to Ron and raised her eyebrows expectantly.

To her disappointment, he only shrugged, as if to say, there is no use arguing with Hermione.

_H_ _ypocrite_ , she mouthed to him. Although she knew that Hermione had a point, she briefly glanced over to the Ravenclaw table toward Michael who sadly wasn't looking at her. But then the boy next to him gave him a nudge and he noticed her gaze. Shyly she averted her eyes but she couldn't keep the smile from blossoming on her face. For a brief moment she had seen him smile at her. And that was enough to stop her worries for the rest of the day.

...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's your new chapter :) This one is a tad short but the next one will be longer... Who's excited for the Yule Ball?! I certainly am xD Are you angry that Haley said yes to Michael? Let's hope, he won't break her heart! Oh right, do any of you watch kdramas? I admit, I love them. And there are so many good ones out there! Just wondering...  
> Thank you lovely readers for reading and commenting and leaving kudos and bookmarking this fic! 
> 
> Till next time,
> 
> Feather :)


	5. Yule Ball (Part 1) - Trick Of The Light

Before anyone knew it, Christmas Day had come and the whole castle, plus the Durmstrang ship and the Beauxbatons carriage was filled with nervous energy and excited chatter. With a fluttery heart, Haley stood in the Entrance Hall and waited. Anxiously she pulled at her emerald green robes and then took a look at the wall clock for the umpteenth time. Where was Michael? He should have been there half an hour ago!

Was there some secret code that said you have to be late on your first date, that she didn't know of?

But that couldn't be it, since everyone else's dates were already there as well. She had left the common room with Ron and Parvati Patil, who were going together after Ron had finally stopped nagging Hermione about who her date was. Again she glanced at the clock and made sure that her robes weren't wrinkled, when someone came running around the corner. It was Michael! Haley let out a relieved sigh and waved at him. As soon as he saw her he came over and flashed her an apologetic smile.

"Sorry," he gasped still out of breath, "I got held up on the stairs. There's this trick step, you know, between the second and third floor and normally I jump over it but," He paused to catch his breath and ran a hand through his dark locks, "somebody passed by and accidentally pushed me right into it. He was in such a hurry that he didn't even hear me calling for help. I'm really sorry. The ball hasn't started yet, has it?"

Before Haley could answer, the doors to the Great Hall were opened and the two of them had to follow the other students inside. While looking around for Ron or Hermione she took in the beautiful decorations that filled up the hall.

There was glitter everywhere. The four house tables had vanished and instead there were hundreds of small, round tables. She spotted fairies and snow flakes and – someone in front of her was waving at her. Cedric. She waved back with a grin that froze when she saw who stood next to him. Cho Chang. She looked simply stunning, there was no denying it. Self-consciously, Haley pulled at her own dress robes and glanced at Michael from the corners of her eyes. How she wished he would look at her the way he looked at Cho, just once.

"Haley!" called someone excitedly from the right. Glad for the distraction, she turned toward the voice. A girl stood there, smiling at her. She was beautiful, with long, shining hazelnut brown hair that framed her face and striking periwinkle-blue dress robes that accentuated her skin tone. Haley knew that voice. And the face seemed familiar as well…

"Is that Hermione Granger?" shouted Lavender Brown who walked a few metres behind them.

Something clicked in Haley's mind.

"Hermione?" She whispered disbelievingly. The girl – Hermione – simply smiled at her, before turning to her partner again. Who happened to be Viktor Krum! But Haley had known that already. Still, it was a different thing to actually _see_ it.

She wasn't the only person, who couldn't believe their eyes, it seemed. Ron – although Haley could tell he had recognized Hermione – walked past her without sparing her a second glance, completely ignoring her attempts at greeting him. Haley sighed. What was she supposed to do with those two?

"Haley?" A soft voice sounded very close to her ear. She turned left and found herself face to face with Michael.

"Huh?" she jumped back, surprised at his closeness.

A rogueish smile formed on his lips. Then he leaned a few inches away from her and offered her his arm. "Shall we?" he asked, tilting his head questioningly. There was a fluttery feeling in Haley's chest that made her forget all about Cho or her two friends for the moment. She nodded, laying her hand on his arm carefully.

As they walked toward the table at the end of the hall that was bigger than the others and reserved for teachers, champions and other important people only, she didn't notice Malfoy entering the hall, who was even later than Michael had been.

Once they were all seated and had ordered their favourite dish, the chattering began all around them. Haley hadn't uttered a word since ordering her christmas-themed omelette with cinnamon and mashed potatoes. She just didn't know what to say. A few seats away from her, Hermione was teaching Viktor Krum how to pronounce her name. It was cute, really. Haley smiled.

"So… what happened to your glasses?" questioned Michael, who was sitting on her left.

"Oh, um..." She hastily swallowed the bite that she had been chewing on for almost a minute.

"Hermione helped me. She-" Haley coughed and took a sip from her glass of pumpkin juice,

"She took the lenses from one of the omniglasses we bought at the quidditch world cup. You know, how you can manipulate your sight in all kinds of ways with them? Somehow she adapted them to my eyesight and shrunk them."

"Is that a permanent _Leviosa_? Or how else do they stay in place?"

"I'm not sure… I think so. But you'll have to ask her yourself, if you want to know the details."

This was a new side of Michael. Never before had she seem him this fascinated and genuinely curious about something. It was probably the Ravenclaw in him.

Haley released a relieved sigh. Maybe she could have a nice, carefree night after all. And maybe Hermione would reconsider what she thought about Michael once she found out that he was someone she could potentially talk to about spells or charms or potions to her heart's delight.

Just as she was about to send a grin Hermione's way, she noticed the many vacant seats around her.

Where had everyone gone? The question was easily answered after a short glance to the centre of the hall. The many tables had been placed to the sides creating a large empty space in the middle of the hall and many couples were getting up to dance.

Before she could muster up the courage to ask, Michael had stood from his seat and was offering her his hand. With a thundering heart Haley got up as well and took his hand slowly.

As soon as they had reached the dance floor, the first thing Haley did was glance around.

A few metres in front of them she saw a stage with instruments. But where was the band?

" _The Weird Sisters_!" Michael exclaimed excitedly, "Did you know they were coming here?"

Haley shook her head, she didn't even know what kind of music she should expect.

As it turned out, the first song at least was a slow waltz, that made couples around them sway in ¾ time. She spotted Ron sitting at a side table with Parvati; Hermione slowly waltzing across the dance floor with Viktor Krum; Cedric and Cho dancing past them in a close embrace…

Michael's grip on her hand tightened and as she looked at his face, she saw that his eyes had become slits. The Gryffindor wanted to ask what was wrong, but in that moment Michael put his free hand on her waist and pulled her close to him roughly.

"Wha-?" Haley started, her eyes almost as big as chocolate frogs.

Michael was grinning at her now, determination shining through his eyes. But his grip on her softened slightly once he noticed how startled she was.

"Come on. Just follow my lead," He whispered in her ear and started to move with the music.

He was so close now. She was able to identify every tiny spot of colour in his dark maroon eyes. She could even feel his breath on her face. See the way crinkles formed around the corners of his mouth, when he smiled liked that…

"Haley?"

Lost in her own thoughts, she looked up and met his gaze. He was chuckling quietly.

"Hey, were you dreaming? I've been calling your name three or four times already."

How pathetic was she? She wasn't only day-dreaming about him when he wasn't around but also, when he was right in front of her! Shaking her head, she answered, "No, I was just-"

Just what? Just what exactly, Haley-hopelessly-lovesick-Potter?

"I was just wondering how Hermione managed to turn her hair into this… piece of art. I mean, she could have shared that secret with me or you know, give me a heads up or something. I didn't even recognize her at first! And we've been sharing a dormitory for four years! That's probably why she told everyone to go before getting ready for the ball herself. I wasn't even allowed to wait for her. And I felt so bad about it because she helped me with the glasses and everything."

Haley released an exasperated breath.

"You're kind of cute when you're rambling, you know?" Michael teased with an amused grin.

Oh no, no, no! Now she was rambling? She had to clear her head somehow. There was way too little oxygen in the hall.

"So, as I was saying, would you mind getting some fresh air?" Michael asked, almost as if in response to her thoughts.

"Yeah sure," Haley said with a little smile, "You're not able to read minds, are you?"

"Not really, no," He laughed, "But you kind of look like you could use it."

She chuckled at that. Then the words registered and she wondered what a person that could use some fresh air looked like. Surely it wasn't meant as an insult… right?

They took the shortest way out of the hall and made their way through the Entrance Hall out of the castle. Once they were outside, Haley didn't know where she wanted to go. Michael didn't seem to know either; all he did was glance around every which way, as if looking for something. Or _someone_.

"Are you looking for something?" Haley wanted to know.

"What?" he asked distractedly still turning his head this way or that way.

For some reason she grew impatient at that, "Well, did you lose something? Or why are you looking around like you're paranoid?" That got his attention and he met her gaze again, seemingly surprised that she was the one that had said those words, sounding almost annoyed. A second later, Michael was smiling again and gesticulated toward something behind her.

"There. I found it," He offered, tugging at her hand and leading her to a fountain that was surrounded by shoulder-high rose bushes. They sat down on one of the benches that were placed in front of the fountain.

"So," Haley said, all night she had been worrying about this but she didn't know how to actually phrase her worries.

"So..." Michael echoed, drawing out the _o_.

"I-"

"There-"

Both of them had started talking at the same time, resulting in a rather awkward pause.

Haley really didn't want to start again, so she cleared her throat and gestured for Michael to go first.

"Oh, um… I was just wondering why there's no one around here but us… It's kind of weird..."

He laughed awkwardly, "I mean beside the fairies. Did you know that fairies usually have a fondness for arguing? They are only this amiable because they like it when they are used for decorative purposes. They are kind of vain, you know?"

"Oh? No, I didn't know that," Haley stated. She had no idea what she was supposed to answer to that. And why was Michael rambling, anyway? Was he nervous about something, too?

"Weird, huh? In any case, they communicate through humming noises and although many people think they can talk, they actually _can't_." He nodded, as if he wanted to underline his words.

"Right. So, what was it that you wanted to talk about?" The Ravenclaw looked at her expectantly.

"I-" Haley started, but how did she continue? Her heart was beating away like there was no tomorrow but she had no choice. She had already decided to talk to Michael about it and she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. Haley took a deep breath.

"I know that… I know that I wasn't exactly your first choice and..." She bit her lips and looked up at the sky, "That… you still like Cho. But maybe..."

With final resolution, she forced herself to look at him, "Since Cho is with Cedric and everything, couldn't you give this a chance? Couldn't you try to like… me?"

Michael looked at her with big eyes full of surprise and it looked like he wanted to say something.

But before he could utter a word, Haley continued, "Look, you don't have to answer now. Just… think about it, okay? Take as much time as you need and for now… let's talk about something else, okay?"

"Haley-" Michael began in an appeasing tone but Haley wasn't having that. In a bold move she took both of his hands in hers and said, "The night is truly beautiful, isn't it? I don't think anything could ruin it," She added with a slightly wistful undertone.

For a moment Michael simply watched her, before smiling a tiny but fond smile.

This is how she had imagined her night to be. Quiet, content and without unforeseen incidents. She was just about to lean her head on Michael's shoulder, when they heard someone heading toward them.

The person rounded the corner and appeared from between the bushes. It was a girl, probably a third year from the looks of it. But Haley couldn't be sure because she didn't seem familiar.

"Are you Michael Corner?" She gasped, after catching her breath.

Michael straightened up, "Yes, that's me. Why? Do you want to sit down for a moment?"

"No, it's fine. I-I was sent to tell you that Cho Chang is looking for you."

These words caused an instant reaction. Michael jumped to his feet and nearly shouted, "Cho? Where? What's going on? Did something happen to her?"

The girl shook her head and muttered, "I don't know, all I was told was that she wants to see you."

All this time, Michael hadn't looked at Haley once. Now he turned toward her with eyes that asked her to understand and spoke, "Haley, I-"

Haley didn't believe this! He was just going to leave her here?

"You're not seriously considering going, are you?" she asked incredulously.

One look at his guilty face told her otherwise.

"Look, Haley, I have to-"

"You don't have to anything!" Haley cried, getting up as well, "What has she ever even done for you, besides rejecting you? It doesn't even seem like something urgent. Don't you see? She's just taking advantage of the fact that you come to her side whenever she needs something!"

As soon as the words were out, she knew, she had overstepped her boundaries enormously.

"I didn't mean it like that. I-"

"No, I think, you meant it exactly like that," Michael said, chuckling darkly, "I don't think we're close enough yet, for you to decide _how_ I spend my time or _who_ I spend it with."

There was a charged moment, where they both simply stared the other down. Haley sighed, it had been so nice before. When had it all gone down the drain?

"You're right," Haley admitted then, "That was out of line and… I'm sorry for that."

Michael didn't say anything in response. But why was everything _her_ fault anyway?

"It's not like I said it without a reason, though," She remarked defiantly, "How would _you_ feel when you were spending a great night with the person you like and when everything was finally going well, some girl appeared out of nowhere, claiming that the person you know your crush still fancies suddenly wants to see them and they don't even hesitate to leave you behind in favour for that person, although it doesn't even seem urgent! And on top of that we don't even know this third year! For all we know this could be nothing but a stupid prank! Is it really too much to ask for one peaceful night?" Toward the end even Haley could hear the frustration and desperation in her voice. And it seemed Michael had noticed it, too because his gaze had softened gradually.

He walked back to where she was standing and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry," he muttered, "I didn't know you felt this… strongly about me."

She looked at her feet, not meeting his eyes.

"I'll… be back soon, okay?" Haley's heart sunk. She shouldn't have been surprised.

"I'll just make sure everything's okay and then I'm back," he promised.

Haley nodded dejectedly. She couldn't bring herself to watch him leave, on top of everything. She felt him squeeze her shoulder and soon after that there were two pairs of feet disappearing into the night. She had barely enough energy to fall back onto the bench. Somehow she couldn't shake the feeling that she wasn't going to see him again tonight.

...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! This is the first part of the ball. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I tried to make Michael kind of likable and kind of not. Actually I did like him before he went all "I have to find Cho!" on Haley. But... it was necessary. Who knows, he might come back. Anyway, have fun and leave me your thoughts :) And thank you so much for reading, bookmarking and leaving kudos or a comment on this little fic :) And thanks to my beta as well :)
> 
> Oh right, and the title is inspired from Charlene Kaye's song "I Dream An Ocean". It's a great song ! And the lyrics fit well with the mood of this chapter.
> 
> Till next time,
> 
> Feather :)


	6. Yule Ball (Part 2) - Spark In The Night

With her head in her hands Haley sat on the bench and waited. Her eyes were closed and she tried to think about nothing. Feel nothing. She wasn't going to cry over this. Michael would be back, if she just waited. And if he wasn't… well there had to be a good reason for that, right?

She didn't know how long she had been sitting there, blocking out the world around her, only hearing the melodious humming of the fairies around her every now and then. It had a calming effect on her jumbled mind.

Someone sat down beside her. She hadn't even heard them coming. Was it Michael? With renewed hope she glanced to her left and… the colour of the robes was all wrong. Michael hadn't been wearing black tonight and even more he hadn't been wearing _satin_.

Haley didn't bother finding out, who had come to disrupt her pity party. What was the point?

"Do I give off the impression that I want company?" she muttered, "Get lost."

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Now, Potter, where are your manners? Is that how you greet an old friend?"

Haley groaned. She would recognize this drawl everywhere. Could the night get any worse?

"First of all, you're not an old friend and second, this night has been awful enough, so would you do us both a favour and just leave."

"No… I don't think I will," Malfoy said slowly. It would have been too good to be true. Well, at least she didn't have to deal with him. She could still ignore him. As long as he stayed quiet, she could simply pretend he wasn't there. It was just her and a few tiny fairies. Just her and the fairies. Her and the fairies… But wait. Fairies didn't sound like this. Their humming was high, not low.

Was Malfoy seriously humming along with the fairies?

Haley's head shot up and for the first time this night she turned her eyes on the arrogant Slytherin.

"Don't you think, you've done enough already?" She exclaimed, "All the insults and the stupid glares and your childish ploys to sabotage me! To humiliate me! And not only me but also Ron and Hermione! Aren't you sick of it by now? Not even a bit?"

Malfoy didn't answer, he was simply watching her with a contemplative expression.

Haley snorted, remembering who she was talking to. "I wouldn't ask for your company, if we were the last two people on earth. You're a heartless, arrogant, cold, disgusting, selfish-"

"That's enough! I get it!"

Now she had his attention it seemed. If she was lucky, he'd leave her alone now.

"But at least I'm not low enough to leave my date alone just because my pathetic one-sided crush wants to see me!" That hurt. How dare he?

"You've been spying on me again? Stop eavesdropping on my conversations all the time! This is none of your business!" Haley spit out angrily.

"That doesn't stop it from being true though," Malfoy said calmly. What the hell was wrong with the world? She wasn't seriously sitting on a bench with sodding Malfoy, discussing her love life?

"Well, excuse me if I don't feel like taking relationship advice from someone like you!"

"What about me?" The Slytherin asked defensively, crossing his arms, "I'm just trying to help-"

" _You_? Trying to _help_?" Haley laughed at that, in fact she could barely stop laughing, because the thought of Malfoy helping anyone but himself was simply ridiculous.

He was frowning now, "Although it is nice that you're in a better mood, I'd appreciate it, if you didn't laugh at me."

She started laughing again. This was just too funny!

"Stop laughing already! This is _not_ funny!" He seemed genuinely annoyed, which caused her only to laugh harder.

Once she had calmed down a bit, she gasped out, "I think I needed that."

She stopped herself before she could say something stupid like _thank you_ , though. She observed him closer now. There was a little smile on his face and he looked at her with an open and content expression which she had _never_ witnessed before.

Then she noticed his dress robes, black and with a standing collar, that looked incredibly stupid.

Haley giggled. "Has someone told you, that you look like a priest?"

Malfoy wasn't amused about that. "Well, no. But that's probably because I do not look like a priest. I wouldn't expect you to understand wizard conventions," he remarked haughtily.

"If you say so," she said in a mocking tone, "Anyway, you should leave now. Michael will be back, any minute. And as nice as your company has been, I can really do without it."

For some reason Malfoy's face darkened at that.

"Don't tell me you're still waiting for that idiot?"

"He is not an idiot and I told you this is none of your business!" It was remarkable how quickly she lost her temper around the git, "What is it to you anyway?"

"Well for one, you turn into a boring, lovesick fool whenever you're around him! It's sickening. And not in a positive way! Watching you kiss up to that moron like a shy 12 year old … That's just pathetic! Especially when I know how fierce and passionate you can be!"

Haley didn't understand. So what, now he was looking out for her? Or what was this about? This was messing with her head big time. She didn't know what to say.

"Can't you see, that he's just using you? He left you here alone just because his precious Chang sneezed or whatever! Didn't you notice that he was looking for her all night and only danced with you after he saw her with Diggory?"

It hurt so much more to hear all this from Malfoy of all people.

"That's not true!" Haley protested, trying hard not to let the words get to her.

"You know it's true!" he continued cruelly, "And how pathetic is it, that he asked you out only one day after he rejected you just because his first choice didn't want him?"

"Everyone makes mistakes! At least he had the guts to admit what he did wrong. It's not like he forced me to say yes!"

Malfoy scoffed at that, "Yeah right. If he wanted to leave the choice to you he certainly wouldn't have asked you out in front of the whole school. It's really easy to turn someone down, when everyone is watching you, isn't it?"

Haley closed her eyes and tried to calm down. He wasn't worth getting upset over. He wasn't worth it.

"Even if that were true and I'm not saying it is," she muttered through gritted teeth, "Nobody is perfect and he said he was going to start fresh with me." Technically he hadn't said that so much in words but Malfoy didn't have to know that. Why was she even telling him all of this?

"He said that, huh? Well, where is he then? I don't see him anywhere. Corner? Are you hiding behind that fountain? Or maybe behind that rose-bush? Or is that you, coming around the corner? Oh wait, are you pretending to be one of those fairies? I didn't realize you were that powerful!"

That was it. She had enough. Without looking back, she got up and started walking away, her hands balled into fists.

"Wait!" Malfoy's voice was only a quiet whisper but all the cruelty had vanished from it, leaving only a hint of urgency and could it be? _Fear_.

In a second, he was on his feet, grabbing her wrist in a quick move, that made her half turn around. Haley shook his hand off as if she was burned and started to turn again, when-

"I'm sorry."

She was shocked to the core. Had she heard right? Was she imagining things already?

"I'm sorry," he repeated in a quiet voice, "Please don't walk away."

_Sorry_. _Please_. Two words that she would have _never_ expected to hear from the Slytherin's mouth! Was she dreaming? Even if she wanted she couldn't walk away now. The words and the pleading look in Malfoy's eyes pinned her to the spot as much as a stunning spell would have.

He was standing right in front of her now, nervously chewing on his lips and looking like a little boy on his first school day. She had never seem him look this vulnerable before. If she thought about it she had never seen anyone look this vulnerable before. It seemed almost as if she could end his life with only one misplaced word.

Hesitantly he reached out with his hand, like he wanted to touch her but stopped at the last moment.

"I know that you probably won't forgive me, but… I wanted to at least tell you that I'm sorry. I never thought… Insulting you and arguing with you… That was always just a thing we did. And once I started… I didn't know how to stop. And to be honest… I didn't want it to stop," he admitted looking at his feet, that were shuffling on the ground restlessly.

What the actual hell? This sounded like an honest apology! This _felt_ like an honest apology!

If this was anyone but Malfoy Haley wouldn't hesitate believing it _was_ an apology. But this was _Malfoy_ , for Merlin's sake! The Malfoy that had been sabotaging her all year! The Malfoy that had called Hermione a Mudblood. The Malfoy that had almost been responsible for Buckbeak's death!

The list was endless really, so why should she believe only one word he said?

"You're probably wondering why you should believe me, right?" He chuckled sadly, "I'll admit, if there was a way to force you to believe me I'd use it. But Veritaserum is kind of hard to obtain, with it being illegal and all." He sighed dramatically.

"But maybe you can try and believe my words… over time?" The look on his face was so hopeful, that Haley had to remind herself that this was her enemy! But it got harder the longer she gazed into his eyes and noticed that the cold grey orbs didn't seem cold at all. Quickly she shook her head to get rid of these foolish thoughts.

"Let's say you're being sincere…and I'm not saying I believe you are. But let's say you're really sorry, why apologize now? Why the sudden change of heart?"

Instead of an answer he reached out his hand toward her face slowly.

"What are you-?" Haley demanded indignantly.

"Don't move! There's a fairy in your hair." What?

"You've got to be kidd-"

"Shh!" Fine. She would stay still, but if this was a trick, he was _so dead_.

Malfoy's hand came closer and closer until it vanished behind her head and out of her sight.

As carefully as he had reached out, he now pulled his hand back until it was hovering between their two faces.

A tiny fairy was floating in Malfoy's hand, combing her red-brown hair with her hands and humming softly. This had to be a dream. There was no other explanation. Or she was simply going insane because of all the drama she had had to deal with in the last months.

With his left hand Malfoy was reaching for her right one now but she was too perplexed to shake it off this time. Ever so slowly he raised her hand until it was in front of her chest and gently placed the fairy inside her open palm.

"That tickles!" Haley's first urge was to pull her hand back but once the first shock subsided, she found the tickling sensation caused by the fairy kind of pleasant. Carefully Malfoy removed his hands and smiled at her shyly.

"So pretty," Haley breathed, watching the fairy with fascination. Then she heard the low humming again and the fairy hummed as well dancing and turning and blossoming under the attention she was receiving. Haley laughed delightedly, almost sure now that she was dreaming. But if that really was a dream why was Malfoy of all people in it?

She looked up and saw the light emitted by the fairy reflected in Malfoy's eyes, which seemed so honest, that she couldn't help but throw caution to the wind and believe him.

"Will you accept this fairy as a sign of my sincerity and believe that I really am sorry?" he asked, meeting her gaze at last.

"I'll… think about it," she whispered, "But I can't keep her. I'll have to set her free..."

The fairy that was still dancing and twirling around on top of her palm didn't register any of the words or if she did, she didn't show it.

"Well," Malfoy mused, "You don't have to set her free now. The night has only just started, right?" And with that he walked back to the bench and sat down, inviting Haley to join him with one hand. Carefully, as not to startle the fairy, she made her way toward the bench and sat down, as well.

Haley felt as if she was under a spell that made her limbs move without her consent and on their own accord. As soon as she was seated Malfoy started talking again.

"You wanted to know… why I suddenly changed my behaviour towards you. I'm… not quite sure I can explain it to you correctly but… let's say that I started to see things in a different light."

He paused, clearly struggling with what he wanted to say. He was watching his fingers intently, like they were the most interesting things in the world.

"I just… seeing you struggle so much this year and also the way tall-dark-and-Ravenclaw treated you, made me realize… that… you were also a human being, with feelings and fears and…

"That I was also one of the things that… made your life harder."

He looked up at her now, "And I didn't want to be that any more."

"Oh really?" Haley asked sceptically, she was slightly touched by the words but there was still one thing that didn't add up. "Is that why you ruined my night and insulted my date? I'm guessing that you were also the one who sent that girl, who claimed, Cho Chang was asking for Michael."

It had only just clicked in her head but who else would be behind this, really. It was weird how calm she was about this. For some reason Malfoy didn't meet her eyes when he answered.

"I was just so angry, you know," he frowned, "He was acting like such an idiot and still you were willing to go to the ball with him. I hadn't been this angry since first year when you cheated your way onto the quidditch team. Or when Gryffindor won the house cup in the last possible second completely undeserved. Or back in second year when everyone thought you goody-good Gryffindor were the heir of Slytherin. Or that time-"

"Okay… we get it. I am the bane of your existence. So? You were saying?"

"Sorry. I guess, I got carried away a bit…" Malfoy grinned sheepishly, "The point is that I was angry that the bugger behaved like a complete dumbass and I had to show you, who he truly is."

He looked at her now earnestly and with a hint of defiance, "You deserve someone better than him. Someone who truly cares about you and doesn't see you as second best."

"I hope you're not talking about yourself," Haley said, chuckling nervously. She didn't think she could deal with such a confession. Dream or no dream.

"As if," Malfoy mumbled quietly, not meeting her eyes.

"Anyway, it's not like there's boys lining up, waiting for a chance to date me."

"If you opened your clueless eyes for once you might see how wrong you are," Malfoy muttered.

"Yeah right," Haley scoffed, "And don't you dare make fun of Neville again. He's a great guy!"

"I wasn't talking about Longbottom! Although, I do admit he is a better option than Corny. Have you ever talked to him about plants? You really should, it's plenty interesting! Especially water plants!"

"What the-? Why would I-? That was kind of random, you know?" Damn, this dream was weird!

"You'd better be careful near him though. He is a bad luck magnet."

"I told you to leave Neville alone! I knew you were only making fun of me! _'If you only open your eyes.'_ And what do I see then? The Creevey brothers maybe? No, thank you I'm not really into blond and clingy! Or were you perhaps referring to Zacharias Smith? That guy can't even stand himself half the time! How he even got into Hufflepuff, I'll never understand! Or – who else did I forget? Flitwick's little brother, perhaps?" Haley ranted hotly.

Malfoy hadn't said a word during her rant, instead he looked like he was contemplating something, biting his lips and watching his fingers that were moving around restlessly.

"I wasn't talking about _any_ of them _either,_ " he replied, annoyance evident in his voice.

"Well, who were you talking about _then_?" She asked, equally as annoyed. What reason did _he_ have to be annoyed?

"Isn't it obvious?" He sputtered frustratedly, "I was talking about-"

It almost seemed as if Malfoy had lost his voice, the way he was trying to say the last word but for some reason couldn't bring himself to do it. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Then he opened them again and looked straight at Haley.

"Me," he admitted simply, "I was talking about _me._ "

His voice sounded so soft and the way he looked at her, eyes full of honesty and – could it be? – affection. Haley's heart stopped and she could do nothing but stare at the boy in front of her stupidly.

"But – how – why – what?" This had to be a joke, but even though it seemed logical to laugh it off, she couldn't do it. Maybe it was the hopeful look on Malfoy's face or the dream-like state she was in that told her to just… go along with it and think later.

"Forget about Michael Corner," he whispered taking her free hand in his carefully. _It's cold, but really soft_ , supplied her brain helpfully without analysing it further.

"I bet, he," Malfoy frowned, "I bet, he hasn't even told you once how… extraordinarily… beautiful you look tonight."

Haley blinked, her eyes felt like they were going to fall out any second. Hesitantly, Malfoy lifted his right hand to her face and brushed a lock of hair that had struggled free from her hairdo back in it's place. Haley couldn't move. Had he fired a full body-bind curse on her without her noticing?

"The way you tried to tame your hair with these little… ribbons," he chuckled, "Adorable. Although I will admit that I like the bird nest version, too." Was he making fun of her now?

His hand hovered there, in front of her face for a second. Then he caressed the side of her face with the back of his hand, gently.

"And your eyes… I don't know how you got rid of the glasses, but it's… a nice change."

With his eyes he had been following the movements of his hand but now – now he was staring at nothing but her eyes, that were unable to escape his intense stare.

"They're just so… so… _green._ Like – like-" he struggled to find the right comparison,

"Like… toads? No, I didn't mean to say that! I meant to say like the… ocean! The ocean!"

Malfoy looked almost horrified at his words, which strangely made Haley chuckle, leaving her smiling softly.

"I'm sorry. Really! I wasn't… making fun of you. I just-" His eyes were following his hand again, which was slowly tracing a line from the side of Haley's face behind her ear and finally came to rest on the back of her head.

"I just wanted you to know that," Malfoy breathed and leaned forward, so that he could whisper in her ear, "You look so beautiful tonight. And maybe there's something wrong with my brain, but I think you are _always_ beautiful." He paused for a moment.

"He should have said that," Malfoy concluded, leaning back a bit so that he could look into her eyes searchingly. Then Malfoy closed his eyes and placed a butterfly-soft kiss on the corner of Haley's mouth.

For the second time tonight, Haley felt her heart stop. When Malfoy leaned back after a moment, she exhaled shakily, only now realizing that also her breathing had stopped.

"But – but – I-" she sputtered, her whole body still not responding. She couldn't even form proper sentences!

"I don't understand!" She exclaimed finally, "You're – you're _Malfoy_! I am _Haley_! You're a Slytherin! I'm – You're supposed to _hate_ me! We're _enemies_!"

"I don't hate you. I – I don't really understand it either, to be honest. But- I have decided that at least for tonight… I'm not going to question it anymore. Or fight it."

He smiled at her shyly now, "There's something that I've been wanting to tell you..."

He leaned closer again. Was he going to kiss her another time? Haley didn't know what she was going to do, if he did. Would she scream at him, hit him, curse him? Or… kiss him back?

He was so close that she was able to make out all the different shades of grey and silver that painted the colour of his eyes.

"I..." he whispered, still coming closer. Haley's heart was beating madly in her chest. She still didn't know what to do, if he really kissed her. Just in case, she went through some useful hexes in her mind…

"Twenty points from Gryffindor," sounded the cold, unmistakable voice of her least favourite teacher. Oh shit, shit, shit! Before she could jump as far away from Malfoy as possible, the Slytherin was already pulling her from the bench and through a crack between the rose bushes. Luckily the bushes were thick enough to hide both of them, as long as they kept quiet.

"Snape." Malfoy mouthed at her, holding a finger to his lips. Oh really? She rolled her eyes and turned her back to him, peering in the direction where the voice had come from.

"I expected something like this from you, Snow," the oily voice sneered disdainfully,

"But you, Mr Pitch? You'd better hurry back to your dorm, now. I'd hate to reduce points from Slytherin as well."

Haley was furious. It was common knowledge that Snape favoured his own house, but this obviously biased treatment was simply not fair and why did he always have to pick on her house?

Carefully she twisted her head, still not seeing anything. Then, Snape appeared through the path, between the bushes on the opposite side. He stopped to glance around in front of the fountain, a sour expression on his face. It was quiet. All that Haley could hear was her heart beating and Malfoy breathing behind her. She even felt his breath on her skin… The git was much too close for her liking. It was making her uncomfortable. It wasn't like they were hiding in a dingy broom closet. He felt even closer now. What was he doing behind her? Was this his hand touching her hair? Haley balled her hands to fists. Or at least she tried to. There was a quick, sharp pain in her right hand. She gasped, raising her hand to see what was wrong. The fairy. Haley had totally forgotten about her! The fairy must have bitten her or something.

"Quiet," Malfoy hissed in her ear, clamping a hand down on Haley's mouth. Was that boy insane?

As if she would tolerate Malfoy's bloody hand on her mouth! Truce be damned!

Without turning around, she hit him in the ribs with her elbow, which surprised him so much that he lost his footing and tried to hold onto her dress robes for balance.

"Let go!" Haley hissed, trying to keep her balance and gripping the bush next to her. It was a rose bush, though. And Haley forgot to remember that rose bushes were studded with thorns, which resulted in her jumping backwards in surprise and right into Malfoy. Her momentum caused him to finally lose his balance and land sprawled out on the floor. Haley right on top of him.

Her eyes had to be at least as big as Malfoy's, who was staring up at her now with his jaw hanging open and a light flush colouring his pale cheeks. He opened and closed his mouth a few times, reminding her of a carp. Haley grinned. She could tease him about this for _years_. Just when she was about to laugh right in his face, someone had to come and ruin it.

"Not you, too," a cold voice snarled. Haley threw her head around and looked straight into Professor Snape's displeased face.

Hastily she scrambled off of Malfoy and to her feet. Crap. She hadn't even heard him coming!

"It's obviously not what it looks like," Malfoy drawled calmly, while gracefully getting up from the ground as well. He chuckled, "Getting cosy with _Potter_? I'm not _that_ desperate. And even if I was… Well, anyway, I think Moody rubbed off on her, Professor. She suddenly attacked me out of the blue, screaming about how she knew that I stole her golden egg and what not. Paranoid, if you ask me."

This was the Malfoy that she knew and loved to hate. The drawl. The cold eyes. The masked, closed off face. The haughtiness. The cruel words. Haley really shouldn't have been hurt by the words. Not a bit! But, somehow, the glimpse she had gotten of the open, more human, _smiling_ boy… had rearranged something inside her. Had made her believe there really was more behind the mask. Or… had that been the mask?

Haley wasn't sure whether Snape had even listened. The potion master was regarding her as if she was a ghost. His eyes were wider than usual and his mouth hung open slightly. The Gryffindor stared back stupidly.

"You... Lil..." There was a sadness in his almost black eyes that Haley didn't understand. Why was he looking at her like that? To be honest, this wasn't the first time that she had caught the potion master watching her like he was looking at someone else. Someone he used to know... But he'd hated her father! And beside her wild raven hair and the glasses, she resembled her mother more anyway. But... why would he... look at her mother like that?

"Professor?" Malfoy asked hesitantly, when Snape kept staring at Haley.

"Professor Snape!" Malfoy almost shouted, finally getting Snape's attention.

"Draco." The potion master turned his gaze toward Malfoy now. His eyes were still a bit unfocused and it was almost like he was in a trance or something like that.

There was an awkward silence that surrounded the three of them. Questions were hanging in the air but no one dared to ask even one of those. Eventually Malfoy broke the silence,

"Oh, professor! I just remembered. On my way down here, I overheard two Ravenclaws talking about how tonight was the perfect opportunity to get the missing ingredients for the potion they were experimenting with."

What the hell, was Malfoy talking about? From the corners of her eyes Haley saw him casually motioning toward the castle without breaking eye contact with Snape. Oh. Was this him distracting Snape, so that she could leave?

"I think they wanted to make a Humdrum potion or something like that," he continued, "To suck out the magic from within a person. Would you happen to have Asphodel roots in your supply closet, sir?"

Haley didn't wait around to hear Snape's answer to that. Malfoy distracting Snape, probably wasn't even necessary, considering the weird state the potion master had been in. Still, she moved away from the two Slytherins and squeezed through the crack in between the bushes as quietly and inconspicuously as possible. Risking a short glance back, she saw that the two Slytherin's weren't bothered at all by her disappearance, so she made her way around the fountain and back toward the castle, silently wondering why Snape hadn't scolded her or reduced points from her house. Not that she was complaining... but it seemed _unusual_. Just like Malfoy's behaviour had been... _Unusual_. And that was putting it lightly. Even thinking about it made her head hurt! She would deal with all of this tomorrow. Or... the day after tomorrow. Or... not ever? Well, at least not tonight!

Right as Haley was about to enter the Entrance Hall, she saw two figures walking toward her, probably in the mood for a midnight stroll as well. As they drew nearer, she recognized Hagrid. And… Madame Maxine. Haley didn't feel like saying hello, though. All she wanted to do was find Hermione and Ron and then finally go up to Gryffindor tower and crawl into her bed. She hid in the shadows until they had passed through the oak front doors and hurried inside. It didn't take long to find her two friends. The raised voices were what gave them away for miles.

Haley sighed, she'd really had enough drama for one night. Hopefully it wasn't too late for damage control, .

"-befriending the enemy!"

"The enemy? I don't remember Viktor being the enemy when _you_ wanted to get his autograph!"

"Viktor? He doesn't let you call him Vicky?"

Haley winced, stepping between the two Gryffindors at last.

"Haley!" Both of them exclaimed at the same time.

"Where have you been?" Hermione sounded both angry and worried, "We were worried about you, when you just vanished from the ball and didn't come back." She brushed away tears of frustration that had stolen into her eyes.

"I-" Haley started, before being interrupted.

"It's not like _you_ noticed! You've been having a bloody good time with _Vicky_ , haven't you?" Ron spat venomously.

"You! You don't get to make me feel bad about having a fun night for once!"

"Well, if you had chosen a better guy, I wouldn't have to!"

"If you hadn't waited for the last possible moment to ask me, maybe you wouldn't have to be so bitter about it now, Ronald!"

"I'm not – that – that isn't – that's totally beside the point!" Ron stammered. But Haley disagreed. It was _exactly_ the point.

"Well, let's hope that next time around you'll remember I am girl _before_ someone else notices. And maybe then you'll actually have the courage to ask! And not only as the last resort!" Hermione cried, ignoring the tears that were streaming down her face now. Holding her head up high, Hermione stalked out of the Great Hall. Ron followed her with his eyes until she was gone and shook his head, as if he didn't understand what had happened just now.

"Do you know what she was talking about?" He asked Haley in confusion, "I'm glad that at least _you're_ not as complicated as her." He rolled his eyes and smirked at her in a conspiratorial way.

"Ron. I mean this in the nicest way possible, but sometimes you can be a real insensitive dunderhead."

Ron only stared at her with a puzzled look on his face.

"Come on, let's go back to the tower," Haley patted his back in a way that said _you're_ _a clueless_ _idiot_ _but_ _we_ _'ll get there in time,_ and together they made their way up to the Gryffindor Tower.

...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I've been extremely excited for this chapter! And now I can show it to you :) Hooray! There's so much to say. I'll be brief. So, actually this little scene with Draco and Haley by the fountain was one of the earliest scenes I pictured for this. At the Yule Ball Haley was sad for some reason and Draco comforted her. That was one of my first ideas so... yeah. That's the first little spark so to speak.  
> Also I was reading "Fangirl" by Rainbow Rowell and... I had to leave some references in here :D I wonder if someone finds them. It's a great book! And it has so many fun Harry Potter references :D  
> Please excuse all the times where Michael Corner comes around a corner... I find that wordplay extremely funny. So I had to use it whenever the chance was there :D   
> I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts and again I want to thank you for being awesome and reading this and leaving kudos and leaving comments. I really appreciate all of this! Thank you to my beta as well!   
> Oh right, title's from another Green Day song: "Homecoming". And it rhymes with the previous title "Trick Of The Light"! Cool, huh?
> 
> Till next time,
> 
> Feather


	7. When Reality Sets Back In

The next few days passed by in a flurry. Hermione and Ron seemed to have silently agreed not to mention the Yule Ball incident again. Well, Haley was okay with that, she definitely preferred this weird polite behaviour over the fighting. A part of her still thought the two of them should talk this out, but then again, it wasn't really her business and maybe the time simply wasn't right. She had enough problems as it was anyway.

Namely a dark-haired Ravenclaw, and… that other person, she actively avoided whenever she saw him from afar. She even forced herself to stop thinking about him whenever the tiniest thought of him – or that night… on the bench with him – crossed her mind. Avoidance seemed to be the best solution to all of her problems at the moment including the riddle of the golden egg.

If Haley was being honest with herself, Michael Corner was one of the things that she could cross off her ever growing list of problems.

On the day after the ball, she had met him on her way to class. (She had to hurry because she was late for Transfigurations.) With her thoughts elsewhere – _S_ _he was not thinking about the Malfoy incident. Absolutely not!_ – she had run straight into Michael who had been running around a corner.

" _Sorry," she murmured without looking up, at least her books hadn't fallen down or anything._

_As she was just about to walk around the person, she noticed the shoulder-length dark hair. The blue and bronze striped tie. The tiny mole that was just below his mouth. The eyes…full of surprise and… something else._

_Haley jumped back in surprise. Why was her heart pretending to be a drum again? She looked to her feet. He hadn't come back for her that night. He hadn't come back, although he had promised…_

" _Michael," Haley said with forced cheerfulness, her voice trembling just a bit._

" _Haley! Hi!" Michael greeted, biting his lips nervously, or was he annoyed?_

_No one said anything for a moment._

" _Um, so I'm late for Potions. I'll catch you later," Michael said finally, looking at something next to her face. He took a step, like he wanted to walk around her, but stopped when-_

" _You didn't come back." The words set over the empty hall like a heavy blanket._

" _What?"_

" _Last night. You said you would come back, but… you never did." Haley's voice was more of a whisper toward the end of her sentence. Michael still didn't look at her._

" _Why?" She finally asked._

"Why? _" He echoed in a disbelieving tone. Haley balled her hands to fists, didn't she at least deserve an explanation?_

" _Well, you seemed a bit preoccupied. I didn't want to intrude."_

_What the hell was he talking about? He couldn't have seen…? No, Haley refused to even think it!_

" _What do you mean_ preoccupied _?" She asked cautiously._

" _I mean it looked like you had a moment with some other guy! There was a fairy involved, too. You could have told me that you only wanted me to serve as a distraction from your real date. I'm sure we could have found a convenient solution."_

_Haley was horrified. He'd seen her with Malfoy? No, no, no! This was bad._

" _We weren't doing anything! What did you even see?" Haley asked frustratedly._

" _It was dark! All I saw was that you were getting friendly with some… blond Beauxbatons douche!"_

_Merlin, was Haley relieved. He hadn't recognized Malfoy. It was a good thing most of the Beauxbatons boys were blonds. That and the fact that Michael probably hadn't even considered the possibility that the person could have been Malfoy because the idea alone was simply ridiculous._

" _You should have stayed longer then, because then you would have seen that I shoved him away after that and went back to the castle." That wasn't quite true, but it was what Haley had done in her mind anyway, anything else was unimaginable!_

" _You know what I think?" She continued, "I think that what you think you saw was convenient for_ you _. If you really cared you would have come back for me sooner! You wouldn't have left in the first place! Do you know how long I waited for you?"_

_On the last few words Haley couldn't stop her voice from breaking. The realisation that Michael had never been serious about her, not even when they had had this moment of understanding on the bench…was crushingly painful._

" _I know that the thing with Cho was a fluke. Why didn't you come back as soon as you knew that?"_

_Michael watched her for a moment, speechless._

" _I-" he stopped, carefully weighing his words._

" _I do care about you, Haley. As a friend," He added emphatically._

_Haley's eyes watered. Was this what a broken heart felt like?_

" _As a friend," she repeated blankly, "Nothing… more."_

_Michael nodded curtly._

" _Too bad," she chuckled quietly, "I don't have the patience for another_ friend _right now."_

_Without sparing him another glance, she went back the way she had come from. Who cared about Transfigurations anyway? Her heart felt like a tiny bud, that had been trampled by a herd of hippogriffs, then resurrected and after a while got trampled by the same herd of hippogriffs again. For now, her heart didn't have enough strength to resurrect again. And when Michael never caught up to her or walked past her, she didn't even wonder why._

The chapter of Michael Corner seemed to be over with that. What else was left? The golden egg and… the stupid Slytherin guy, that she carefully avoided, whenever their paths crossed. A part of Haley desperately wanted to share the memory of that night with someone. She had considered confiding in Hermione, after she had left the ball. But when Haley had entered their dorm, the lights had been turned off already and when she had called Hermione's name, there hadn't been an answer. Haley had been sure that her friend was still awake, but she had gotten the feeling that she wasn't in the mood to talk. After that night Haley never had measured up the courage to bring up the topic herself. And Hermione didn't say anything about her night, either. _It's probably better this way_ , whispered the other part of her in her mind. The part that didn't want to talk about the incident. That thought, this was no one's business but hers. That wanted to take this secret to the grave.

_What would you even say? The others wouldn't understand anyway_. But she didn't even understand it herself! Which might be partly due to the fact, that she never let herself think about it too much. If she was lucky she would simply forget about the whole ordeal sooner rather than later.

"Haley! You're crushing your pufferfish eyes!" Haley looked up, confusedly. Why did her mind wander off all the time?

"Snap out of it!" Hermione was snapping her fingers in front of her face now. She shook her head slowly, lowering her gaze to see what her hands were doing. Hermione was right, she _was_ crushing her pufferfish eyes.

"We're supposed to _slice_ them, remember? Not _crush_ them." She gently took the mortar from her hands and placed some fresh pufferfish eyes along with a knife in front of Haley.

"You're spacing out a lot lately. What's wrong? Is it because of the Tournament? You never did tell us what happened after you left from the Ball with Michael," Hermione added hesitantly.

Haley panicked, she really didn't want to talk about this. Especially not during Potions.

"Yeah, it's because of the tournament," she answered, not entirely lying, "I just can't figure out how I'm supposed to survive underwater for an hour." Hermione didn't look completely convinced.

"Are you sure that's all?"

Haley nodded, trying to look concerned and dejected. Hermione sighed.

"We'll find something. We just haven't looked thoroughly enough." She went back to her potion, clearly deep in thought.

Haley tried to focus on the potion, what was the next step? Right, the knotgrass was supposed to be added next. But first she had to slice her pufferfish eyes.

There was a pale hand in her line of sight, snagging two bundles of her knotgrass. Haley looked up indignantly.

"I need to borrow some of your knotgrass. Crabbe threw ours into the fire," Malfoy drawled in a bored way and took another bundle.

"Hey! Why don't you go to Snape! This is ours!" Ron exclaimed hotly.

"Oh, but this table is much closer," There was an amused grin on Malfoy's face, "And it looks like you have more than enough. Has no one ever taught you how to share, Weasley?"

Ron turned as red as his Gryffindor tie.

"You'll share with me, won't you Potter?" With a mocking grin he looked right into her eyes now. This was the first time they talked since _the night_ two weeks ago,still there was nothing left of the boy she had encountered then. Except for the twinkle in his eyes that appeared for a second, when he winked at her in the next moment. She lowered her gaze, not saying a word. _Don't blush, don't blush, don't blush!_ , she thought frantically.

"Thank you."

Ah, the sarcasm again. Malfoy turned to leave, knocking into Haley's side on his way.

"You should pay better attention, Potter," he sneered and made his way back to his own table.

"Slimy bastard," Ron murmured, "Thinks he's the bloody prince of the dungeons and all that. Somebody really should swipe that superior smirk off his face for good. Disgusting little ferret!"

"Come on, Ron. Let's get back to the potion. He's not worth it," Hermione said.

And she was right. As always. He wasn't worth it.

...

_Me and the Merpeople._ With a tired sigh, Haley closed another book that had turned out as unhelpful as the title had promised. She was slowly going crazy, seriously!

"Find something? _"_ Hermione asked. She was sitting across from her on their table in the library, where they had spend another evening. Ron was also around, somewhere. He had gone off to look for more books. But that had been half an hour ago…Haley shook her head hopelessly.

"There's still another week, Haley. We'll find something." Hermione took her hand and squeezed lightly, sending her an encouraging smile.

"Looks like Corner has lost his feathers." Ron sat back down at their table, grinning at them.

"What?" Hermione asked, "And where are the books you wanted to fetch?"

"Oh. Must have forgotten them at Ginny's table. But I'm telling you, Corner was sitting at the table next to hers and there were no feather's at all! I wish I could have seen him with his wings," Ron snickered.

"Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, "Do you have to be so happy about this?"

"He deserved it," the redhead muttered, still grinning faintly. Haley wondered what had happened to Michael. After their last conversation in the hallway, she hadn't seen him again. He hadn't shown up to lessons or meals. But Hogwarts wouldn't be Hogwarts, if there hadn't been any rumours.

The rumour that was the most believable, was that he'd been hit by a spell that had turned his forearms into giant eagle wings.

If what Ron said was true it had taken two weeks for Madame Pomfrey to get rid of the last feathers. Some people from his house had even said, that instead of a mouth he'd gotten a beak.

"I'm glad, he's better," Haley whispered after a moment.

"But he's been such a jerk to you! He was totally leading you on!" Ron protested. Had he talked to Hermione about this? Or since when was he this perceptive?

"He never promised me anything. I practically threw myself at him," she admitted. She guessed this was Ron's "big-brother syndrome" talking. That's why he was being this protective.

"Did he say, who attacked him?" Haley wanted to know.

"No. It seems like he didn't see the person, but whoever it was I'm rooting for them."

Hermione clicked her tongue impatiently. Then she turned to Haley.

"Are you okay?" she asked concernedly.

"Yeah," Haley replied softly, realising that it was almost true, "I will be."

"Here, have a chocolate frog," Ron said suddenly, offering her a chocolate frog. When Haley just looked at him in confusion, he shrugged, "Mum always says chocolate helps with broken hearts. I've seen her do that with Bill and Charlie once or twice."

"Thanks," Haley mumbled, awkwardly touched, "I'm not heartbroken, though."

At least she didn't think she was. Just a little sad that her dream had been just that.

She took the frog, but it fell midway and landed right inside the pocket of her robes.

Blindly, she reached inside her pocket to get the frog, when she felt something else in there:

A folded piece of paper, that hadn't been there before.

_To H. P.,_ it said on the paper. Haley frowned. How had this gotten into her pocket? And who was the sender? Perhaps… Michael? Whoever it was from, for some reason Haley didn't want to open it in front of her two friends. They were watching her curiously. Quickly she slipped the little paper back inside her pocket.

"I'm gonna take these back," Haley jumped to her feet and grabbed a bunch of books, that were strewn across the table.

"Wait, I haven't gone through this one yet!" Hermione pointed at the book that Haley was just about to add to her book tower.

"Oh. Right." With twitchy fingers she set _Help! My brother is a Grindylow_ back down in front of Hermione. Then she almost ran around the nearest bookshelf, not wanting to feel her friends' suspicious gazes on her back anymore.

As soon as Haley was far enough away from her friends, she set the books down on a nearby table and made sure no one else was around. Without wasting another second, she fetched the paper from her pocket, unfolded it and began to read:

_H.P.,_

_We should talk about some things. Meet me tonight after curfew in front of the kitchens. I'm assuming, you know where they are. I don't think I have to tell you to come alone._

_D.M._

D. M.? Haley had a feeling, that she knew exactly who the note was from. Draco sodding Malfoy.

If it wasn't for the initials, the demanding tone of the note would have been evidence enough. Her first urge was to crumple up the note and throw it away. But she wouldn't be Haley Potter, if she wasn't at least a tiny bit curious. He'd probably smuggled this into her pocket when he had bumped into her during potions. What did Malfoy want to talk about though? And was that really why he wanted to meet her? It was also highly possible that this was simply another prank. Well, there was only one way to find out.

When Haley sat back down at her table, Hermione looked up from her book and raised an eyebrow at the book tower that was back on top of the table.

"Didn't you want to put these back?" she asked drily.

With a shrug, Haley unwrapped her chocolate frog and bit off the head.

...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> New chapter! Who else thinks Ron is adorable in this? I'm not sorry for all the times I wrote Michael Corner near a corner... or walking/ running around a corner...It's my sad kind of humour :D I hope you guys liked the chapter and I want to thank you again for the continued support! I love reading all the lovely reviews or simply knowing you liked the story! Thank you :)
> 
> We're already more than half-way done with the story! But I might write a sequel in fifth year if people are interested! I'll even write it if no one's interested :D Just... it might take some time. And also I've been working on a little more Neville-centric fic, so this will be up sometime next week. Or even on the weekend if I can make it! It will be set in this verse but take a different turn after Haley gets rejected by Michael. And I've been writing complementary stuff from Draco's POV, so this will also be up sometime soon :) I haven't come up with a name yet.
> 
> Sidenote: I finished "Carry On" by Rainbow Rowell this week and it was... wonderful. Go read it! Go fall in love with it!
> 
> Title's from "I'm not that girl" from Wicked. There's a really beautiful version of the song right here on youtube:  
> /watch?v=SdSM887rUIo
> 
> See you soon, people :)
> 
> Feather


	8. Unexpected Help

It was too late to worry about whether she should go or not. As quietly as she could, Haley tip-toed down the stairs that led to the corridor below the Great Hall where the kitchens were located. Although she was wearing her Invisibility Cloak, she had to be careful, because people could still hear her. On her way down from Gryffindor Tower Haley had almost run into Filch, who had been on the hunt for Peeves that was throwing around chairs in a nearby class room!

It had taken her some time to find a way around the spectacle. She hoped, she wasn't too late and at the same time she wished that she was. One glance at the Marauder's Map told her, that there was no one in the corridor. Great! But didn't that mean...? She looked at the map again and there really wasn't anyone to be seen. She was standing in front of the picture with the pear now.

What had she expected really? Why would the git meet up with her if not to play a trick on her?

"I am such a fool," she muttered, sinking down against the wall.

"Miss Haley Potter is not being a fool."

Haley flinched. She looked up into two eyes as big as tennis balls.

"Dobby?" But why was he able to see her? Wasn't she wearing her Invisibility Cloak? She looked down, where her cloak was pooling in her lap. She was invisible from her stomach downwards. The cloak must have fallen down, when she'd sunk to the ground.

"What are you doing here?" She whispered, her voice full of surprise.

"Dobby heard a noise in the corridor so he went out to see what the noise is."

Before Haley could stop herself she asked, "Was there someone else? I mean, before me, was there someone else in the corridor? Waiting?"

Dobby's cartoonish eyes blinked at her in confusion, "Someone else? Before Miss Haley Potter?"

"Yes!" Haley nodded frantically.

"Dobby was in the kitchens the whole time. But… before Miss Haley Potter has arrived Dobby heard someone laughing."

"Who?"

"Dobby is not sure. He has only seen the person from behind, leaving the corridor."

"He was leaving?"

"Yes." Now it was Dobby's turn to nod enthusiastically.

"Did you see the hair colour or… something else? It _was_ a boy, right?"

"Dobby saw short, blond hair and Dobby thinks he might recognize the boy if he turned around."

"Could it have been Malfoy?" Suddenly Haley was excited.

"Yes! Dobby thinks, maybe," the elf was nodding again, "But why is Miss Haley Potter waiting for the young Mr Malfoy?"

Haley was afraid Dobby's eyes might fall out of their sockets, if he opened them any wider. Quickly, she shook her head.

" _No_. I wasn't waiting for _Malfoy,_ " she laughed like this was the funniest thing she'd ever heard.

"Is Miss Haley Potter here to drink hot chocolate? Or is Miss Haley Potter hungry?"

"No, I'm just-" She began, but changed her mind mid-sentence, "Actually, I'd love to have some hot chocolate." It wouldn't hurt to stay for a bit longer. She'd probably hear if Malfoy came back again and even if he didn't, who would say no to hot chocolate?

After they'd entered through the painting, Haley sat down at a bench near the wall. Before too long there was a cup of steaming hot chocolate in front of her. Carefully, as not to get burned, she took a sip and sighed contentedly. Dobby, who sat across from her, was watching her expectantly.

"Is Haley Potter liking it?" He asked as though there was nothing more important.

Haley nodded, "Yes. It tastes really good. Thank you." She sipped again and listened for noises outside the kitchens. There was nothing.

"Dobby has something for Haley Potter," Dobby said a little nervously and fetched something from the front pocket of his shorts. Unceremoniously, he put it on top of the table.

It was a jar. There was something green and wet inside of it but she had no idea, what it could be. "Is Haley Potter being happy now?"

She looked at him, confusion written all over her face.

"Thanks, Dobby," she offered, "Um… what do I need this for?"

"It is Gillyweed," Dobby stated simply, like that explained everything.

"Okay…"

"Miss Haley Potter can use it for the Second Task," Dobby was beaming at her now.

Haley needed a moment. "Do you mean…" She blinked slowly. It was kind of late after all.

"Do you mean, this Jillywilly-thing… keeps me from drowning?"

"Gillyweed, Miss," the elf corrected patiently, "Haley Potter has to eat it and then she can breathe underwater."

"What?" This couldn't be true! This seemed way too easy! "You mean, with this weed or whatever I'll be able to breathe underwater? For an hour?"  
"Yes, Miss! That is what Dobby is saying!"

A thought crossed her mind. There had to be a catch.

"How… did you get this, Dobby?"

Dobby's eyes widened and he looked down at his lap, when he started talking again.

"Dobby… heard the teachers talk about it when he cleaned the teachers room… They says it can help with the Second Task and so Dobby got it from Professor Snape's office and gave it to Miss Haley Potter."

"Oh."

Dobby was nodding again, but he still didn't meet her eyes. Was there more to it that he was hiding?

Haley shook off the thought. This was Dobby! He wouldn't harm her! As long as it could be helped, that is. She yawned tiredly. It was time to go back to the dormitory.

"Thank you, Dobby," she smiled, "For the chocolate and… this." She grabbed the jar from the table and tucked it into the pocket of her pyjama pants.

"It is being a pleasure for Dobby." He jumped up with a giant grin and walked her to the door.

"Night, Dobby, I'll see you soon and thanks again."

Instead of an answer the elf bowed until his long nose almost touched the ground.

With a wave, Haley stepped through the painting and closed it behind her. She was so tired, that she didn't even remember why she had come down to the kitchens in the first place.

…

Breakfast the following day was a fun affair. Haley hadn't really slept well, after she'd finally fallen into bed. Lifelessly, she was chewing on a slice of toast. She was _so_ tired!

"Haley, are you listening?"

"Yes, Hermione," Haley's eyes were drooping again. At least, she could go back to sleep after breakfast. It was Saturday, after all.

Hermione snorted, "As I was saying, it's Saturday and we have the whole day to look for more clues in the library."

"No. Don't want to."

"Haley Petunia Potter! I don't care if you don't want to. People have-"

"–died in this tournament, I know," Haley completed her friend's favourite sentence.

"If you know," Hermione argued, her voice dangerously calm, "Then you should-"

"I already found something," the raven-haired girl mumbled, interrupting Hermione again.

"I don't care if you – What? Did you say, you found something?"

Haley nodded sleepily. Why was she so tired?

"Yeah. Gillyweed. Got it from Dobby. Last night," she couldn't be bothered to talk like an actual human being.

" _Gillyweed_? Never heard of that. What do you mean last night? Did you sneak out?"

Haley nodded again.

"Why? And don't try to tell me, you were hungry."

"Got a note from Malfoy… Said he wanted to talk about something… I don't know. He didn't show, so I met up with Dobby instead. And he got me the Gillyweed," Haley concluded. She was way too tired to make something up about Malfoy's note. So she didn't. At this point, she herself didn't even wonder about the note or the boy anymore. Hopefully Hermione wouldn't ask.

"How did Dobby even find this? Are you sure that it's not dangerous? How do we know that it works?" Hermione was spewing questions like mad. Haley felt a headache coming.

"Neville?" She called, hoping he was sitting near them.

"Y-yes?" Came the startled answer from somewhere to her left. Good. He had heard her.

"What do you know about the Gillyweed?" It was really hard for her to actually articulate each word.

"It's funny that you ask about that. I just read an article about Gillyweed a few days ago. It was in the book, that I showed you. The one I got from Moody." The way he talked about this, you'd think he was talking about the new _Firebolt 2_ or something equally thrilling.

"Is that the one you were so worked up about because you thought you had lost it?" Ron piped up.

"Yes! That. I... _found_ it again last week and the page about Gillyweed was dog-eared. That's why I know a lot about it." The way he'd said _found_ had sounded weird in Haley's ears. Kind of like he'd wanted to say something else at first. Hermione was curious about something else, though, which left Haley no time to ponder over Neville's choice of words. She was too tired for that anyway.

"So, what does it do now? The Gillyweed?" Hermione was clicking her tongue again. She wasn't the most patient person at Hogwarts…

"O-oh," Neville continued, woken up from his thoughts, "Y-You have to eat it and the-then there'll appear gills on the sides of your throat. So b-basically you can breathe u-underwater."

The amount of attention Neville was getting, seemed to make him nervous. He probably wasn't used to it. For a long moment Hermione regarded Neville searchingly. He gulped, intently studying the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him.

Finally, Hermione nodded and averted her eyes.

"Fine," she said, "I'll take a look at this book later and Haley, you should also show me this Gillyweed."

Nodding to herself again, Hermione went back to her breakfast, as if nothing world-changing had happened. And that was that.

...

The night before the Second Task was bad. The actual morning was even worse. Since McGonnagall had stolen her two best friends last night, Haley hadn't seen them again. The three of them had been reviewing useful spells and anything related to merpeople or water creatures in general, when McGonnagall had approached them at their table in the library and demanded to talk to Ron and Hermione in private. It was morning now – 20 minutes until the task was supposed to begin! – and there was still no sign of her friends!

It was no use, she would have to leave without them. The toast in front of her was untouched. The simple thought of eating made her feel queasy.

With a last glance around the Great Hall, Haley stood from her seat and made her way out of the castle. Wand? Check. Gillyweed? Check. Swimsuit? Check. If there only was a way to calm her nerves! Somebody fell into step beside her.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't our favourite Hogwarts champion."

Haley grimaced. A bit of peace. Was that really too much to ask? At least the lake wasn't too far away. Ten minutes tops and she'd be there. She would simply pretend that she was alone.

"Oh, I see. Now that you're a _Hogwarts champion_ and everything, you don't bother talking to us ordinary people anymore."

Haley stayed silent. _Just ignore him_ , she thought vehemently.

"Of course, you've always been a bit of a snob, but this?" In Haley's imagination Malfoy was raising an eyebrow. She didn't bother checking.

"Ever heard of the pot calling the kettle black?" She gritted out, although, she hadn't wanted to say anything. But _him_ calling _her_ a snob? That was just ridiculous.

Malfoy ignored her comment.

"You know, it is kind of rude not to look at the person you're talking to," he drawled, "But maybe… you don't want to look at me, because you're afraid…"

Haley scoffed. What would she be afraid of?

"You're afraid, that your face will turn as red as Weasley's obnoxious hair, when you look at my… handsome face."

Haley snorted. Was he delusional or something? She turned to look at him out of annoyance.

But she didn't expect his face to be this close. With a start, she stopped walking. Malfoy halted in his steps, too, his expression almost as surprised as she felt. There was the spark in his eyes again.

Just like she had seen the night of the Yule Ball… Inviting her to come even closer and discover every shade of his silvery eyes...

Quickly she shook her head to get rid of these foolish thoughts and started walking again.

"In your dreams," Haley spat, frowning irritatedly.

"I do admit that I've seen you in my dreams quite frequently, lately," Malfoy mused, "You've never turned red, though. And… we've certainly done more fun things than talking, if you get my drift."

Haley stared at his raised eyebrows, speechlessly. Was he referring to-? Did he mean-? The ki-

No, no, no. She didn't allow herself to even think about it. It hadn't even been a real kiss, for Merlin's sake! And why was he mentioning this now of all times? Haley had thought they had a mutual agreement, not to talk about this! Ever!

Malfoy was turning around, walking back to her, because she had stopped walking again. Behind him, she could see the lake already. There were so many people! Ron and Hermione had to be there, too. They simply had to.

For a second, Malfoy looked like he was worried about something, then his superior grin was back.

"It's fine, really, if you're dreaming of me, too. I'm kind of irresistible." He winked at her, before walking up to her side and giving her a little push on her back.

"I won't dream of you. Ever," Haley muttered defensively, continuing to walk toward the lake.

"I told you. It's fine. You might as well admit it."

"I don't have to admit anything!"

"Fine, don't admit it. That doesn't mean it isn't true, though."

"It's _not_ true! I don't even _like_ you!"

"I won't tell anyone. I promise."

"I hate you! And stop sending me stupid, useless notes, for Merlin's sake!" She added as an afterthought.

They were only a few metres away from the lake now and Malfoy looked way too amused for Haley's liking. With a last annoyed glance, she ran ahead, leaving him behind. Him and his mirth-filled laughter. As irritating as talking to Malfoy had been, it'd had one positive effect: Haley had been so distracted, that she stopped worrying about the task or the whereabouts of her friends for a little moment.

…

When she resurfaced with Ron and Fleur's sister in tow, her vision was blurred and she felt desperately out of breath. There, somewhere in front of her on the shore was Hermione, who smiled, after she'd spotted her. Haley smiled back. She didn't remember ever having been this relieved in her life! Her two best friends in the whole world were safe and for the moment, she didn't have to worry about anything.

A little ways further back, Haley spotted a mane of blond hair and the pale, pointy face that belonged to it showed an expression of worry, that Haley was sure had never been there before. She frowned, watching him, while she kept swimming toward the shore. Then he, too smiled at her, relief evident on his face as well. Huh? Malfoy couldn't be relieved that she was fine, could he? That was simply ludicrous! He wouldn't be happy to see Ron, either. That was even more insane. She turned her head around. There was no one behind her. When she turned back again, Malfoy had vanished into the crowd. Or… had he even been there in the first place? Was she imagining things now?

_It must be the lack of oxygen,_ Haley thought irritatedly. The ground was back under her feet now and when Hermione pulled her into a bone-crushing embrace and covered her in a warm, fluffy towel, she felt a surge of warmth and happiness welling up inside her, that made her feel loved and content. Ron was right behind her, helping the blonde, little girl to the shore and her little family was almost complete. There was only one task left, but for today, she was done worrying.

...

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! Did you have a good start into the new year? I'm sorry to say that the next chapter will be the last... But there will be a sequel for fifth year! Soon... I haven't started on it yet. I have no idea when I'll start posting it but in the mean time you can check out my sidefic "A Little Braver", in which Haley is asked to the ball by Neville before Michael can do so. Right. So thanks for reading and leaving me your thoughts. And seeing all those kudos makes me happy :) I hope Dobby didn't make you cringe. Writing him talking is so weird.
> 
> Till then,  
> Feather


	9. The Innocent Can Never Last

Haley wasn't as nervous before the third task as she had been before the other two. She even managed to eat some of the mashed potatoes with peas and carrots she had for dinner.

"You have an owl, Haley dear," Mrs Weasley said. She and her oldest son Bill had come to watch the final task and support Haley.

"Who is it from? And why didn't it come in with the other owls at breakfast?" Hermione wanted to know.

Haley suspiciously eyed the owl that was perched next to her pumpkin juice. It looked like a school owl. Rita Skeeter had published a terrible article today about the questionable state of Haley's mind.

Was this hate mail? The note that was tied to the owl's leg looked way too tiny for an ordinary letter. Carefully she untied the little note and unfolded it. There were only two words written on the paper:

_Don't die_

The script looked familiar. Especially the _D_. Where had she seen it before? When she looked up she was faced with several curious gazes.

_Snuffles?_ , Ron mouthed from the opposite side of the table. Haley shook her head absently.

"Who-?" Hermione's question was interrupted by Dumbledore who had stood from his seat and was telling the champions that it was time to go to the maze now. Haley took a deep breath to fight off the nerves. This was it. The final task. Soon this horrible tournament would finally be over.

She stood from her seat and tried to appear determined. A moment later Haley was almost crushed in a fierce hug and all she could see was a mane of bushy hazelnut hair.

"Haley, you have to promise me you won't be reckless. And the spells, we reviewed, don't forget them! You haven't forgotten the incantation of the directional spell, right? It's 'Point me'. Don't forget that! Haley, I-" Hermione's voice broke on the last word. She was hugging her so tightly, it seemed she never wanted to let go and all Haley could do was to pat her back gently.

Mrs Weasley looked as if she wanted nothing more than to join the embrace. There were tears in her eyes. Why was everyone being this dramatic?

"Hermione, let her breathe. You're choking her," Ron's voice sounded weirdly hollow as well.

"Just – be careful, okay? People have-"

"-died in this tournament, I know." Haley completed with a chuckle, removing herself from the embrace. But her voice sounded hoarse as well.

"You'll see, I'll be back in no time at all." Haley took a last look around the people she loved, bracing herself for what was to come. Then it was time to go.

…

Haley's hands were shaking so much, she had to shove them inside her robe pockets. The fingers of her left hand curled desperately around the only thing that was inside the pocket. The note.

_Don't die._ Haley bit her lips anxiously.

"Hey," someone muttered in a low voice. Then there was a warm hand on top of her shoulder. Haley looked up toward the voice. Cedric Diggory was grinning at her encouragingly.

"I won't let you win so easily," he said, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

"Me neither," Haley countered, suddenly filled with a thrilling energy that felt similar to what she felt before every quidditch match.

There was another much smaller hand on her other shoulder then. Haley turned around.

"Good luck, 'ailié," whispered Fleur Delacour from her left.

There was movement in front of her and Haley turned her head in the direction of it.

Krum was standing there, completing their little champion circle.

He nodded at her shortly and then looked away. Looking around the circle of people surrounding her, Haley thought for a tiny second that this was what having older siblings felt like. Which of course was a stupid thought because these people were her rivals.

Still, it was a comforting thought. With her left hand she held onto the note and in her right she gripped her wand tightly.

…

_This is too easy_ , Haley couldn't help but think as she was wandering around inside the gigantic maze. In the ten minutes or so she had spent between the hedges, there had been no obstacles so far.

There was only darkness around her and the air was so quiet that all she was able to hear was her own breathing that was getting more unsteady by the minute. What were the other three doing right now? And where was the audience? Were they even able to follow the events happening inside the maze? In her state of isolation it was easy for Haley to trick herself into thinking that she was all alone in here. There was no sound. No sign of life. No-

A scream. A woman was screaming. Fleur? Haley looked from left to right frantically but it was no use. The hedges were too high and too thick. Haley hurried along the path she was currently on, breathing raggedly. Was someone following her? No, she couldn't make out anything. The path was taking a turn left now and somewhere from her right she was able to hear muffled voices.

It sounded like fighting. Haley stopped, to listen. The voices were getting closer now. Was that Cedric?

"-you insane? What are you-?" Haley never heard the end of that sentence. In a mess of wood and leaves the hedge to her right went up in a massive explosion. Before Haley had time to jump out of the way, something heavy crashed into her, causing her to fall and landing on top of her.

Was she being attacked? Quickly she pointed her wand at the face that was hovering over her. It was Cedric, who was blinking owlishly at her. Then Haley saw something – no _someone_ marching toward them slowly. As soon as Haley saw the raised wand and the hateful expression on the person's face, she acted on instinct.

"Stupify!"

After a flash of red light, the person went down like a tree.

Haley wanted to get up but it was unexpectedly hard when someone was lying on top of her.

"Do you mind?" Haley whispered. Talking in a louder voice seemed strangely inappropriate.

Hastily Cedric got up and offered her a hand. Haley took it, slowly getting to her feet as well.

When Haley's gaze fell upon the face of the person she had shocked, she jumped back in surprise.

"Krum?" She asked, her voice full of disbelief.

"Yeah," Cedric huffed out, while brushing the leaves from his robes, "He came out of nowhere. And attacked me from behind."

Haley didn't know what to answer. She was still a little shocked.

"I really thought he was okay," Cedric admitted quietly.

"Me too," Haley muttered.

After sending up some red sparks so someone could come and get Krum they continued walking along the path in silence.

Not before long the path diverged and Haley wondered if that was it then. If they were back to being rivals now. She didn't want to be the one to address it first, but her steps grew slower and slower until they came to a stop right where the path was split in two.

Just as Haley was about to declare, she was going to follow the left path, Cedric beat her to it.

"What do you think? Left or right?" He asked.

"Left," she said at once. For some reason she didn't want to use her directional spell in front of Cedric. But then again, surely he was using some kind of spell to determine his location as well.

She would use it once she was alone again.

Cedric nodded and walked down the left path without hesitating. Haley followed him automatically but then she realized something.

"Wait, _I_ was going to go left. Shouldn't you take the other way?" Haley asked confusedly.

"Why?" Cedric asked instead of answering.

"Well," the Gryffindor began slowly, "aren't we competing against each other?"

"Oh. _That_." Cedric offered offhandedly.

_Oh. That?_ To say Haley was confused was an understatement.

"Look… I… you're three years younger than me. You could be my younger sibling..."

What?

"I've always wanted to have a younger sibling, you know…"

Where was he going with this?

"So…?" Haley finally said.

"It's just that-" Suddenly Cedric stopped walking and turned around to face her. Haley stopped as well.

"You know what they say about us Hufflepuffs? That we're not the brightest bunch and everything?"

Haley wanted to argue but Cedric waved her efforts away impatiently.

"It's fine, you get used to it. It does have its merits though. For one… nobody ever suspects us. And we're often… underestimated."

Haley froze. Did that mean-? Was he after her as well? She gripped her wand tighter.

"I-I didn't mean it like that," Cedric backtracked, looking around cautiously, "I meant that… I've heard things… seen things… I don't think all of this is a coincidence. Your name in the goblet of fire, Krum's behaviour just now…"

He sighed, running a hand through his hair, "You should have seen his face, Haley. He looked like he was… possessed or something. There's something fishy going on."

"So..." Haley said again.

"So, I'm saying, let's stick this out together!" He proposed with a grin. Haley bit her lips.

"How do I know that I can trust you?" She asked sceptically.

Cedric thought about that for a moment. Then he said, "I'm a Hufflepuff."

Haley blinked, before muttering, "Didn't we establish just now that that's exactly the reason why I _shouldn't_ trust you?"

That made Cedric chuckle.

"Come on, we should go." He started walking again. When Haley didn't follow at once, he called back, "You can walk behind me if that makes you feel better."

Haley scoffed. But she followed him nevertheless. How did he know, _she_ wouldn't hex _him_? Stupid, trusting Hufflepuff.

"Watch out!" He shouted all of a sudden. There was a Blast-Ended Skrewt right in front of them. It was about to attack Haley but before it could reach her Cedric jumped in its path.

In a second the boy was buried underneath the creature. He was trying desperately not to get into contact with the Skrewt's scorpionlike stinger that was wildly moving around in an attempt to sting him.

Haley sighed, why had Hagrid never only once mentioned how to get rid of these blasted creatures?

" _Stupify! Impedimenta! Stupify!_ " She fired wildly at the creature. Luckily one of her spells hit the Skrewt below its shell and rendered it motionless.

For a moment Cedric continued fighting but once he realized the danger was over, he shoved the creature off himself.

"Thanks?" He said, which sounded almost like a question.

Before Haley could think about it, she stretched out her hand and helped him up.

"That was really stupid of you," she stated eyeing him with furrowed brows.

"Huh?"

"Well, just jumping right in front of it like a loon!" Haley explained impatiently.

"Maybe," Cedric blinked, "Anyway, let's continue on. The Cup can't be too far now."

And so the two champions continued walking through the hedges.

Whenever they encountered another obstacle, they found a way to get past it together.

Haley took care of the boggart that had taken the form of a giant goose when Cedric had been frozen in place unable to move.

Another time, Haley had lost her footing and fallen straight into a huge hole that had been disguised as a normal patch of earth. Luckily Cedric had helped her out. It wasn't her fault she was this short!

Finally the two champions arrived in a path that was blocked by a sphinx that told them the Cup was behind her. They could either solve her riddle and pass through or turn around and look for another way. If they answered wrongly they'd have to fight the sphinx.

These were the moments where Haley wished Hermione was there with her. As it turned out though the riddle wasn't too difficult and they were able to solve it, leaving the sphinx behind.

Haley could see it now. The Cup was there no more than ten metres in front of them. Her heart pounded wildly. She could really win this! She could-

But no. There was still… Cedric. It had been sort of nice walking through the maze with him. Almost like one of her adventures with Ron and Hermione. Maybe, when all of this was over… they could be friends or something? Haley glanced over to the boy to her left. His gaze was fixated on the Cup. Did he really want it that much? Did Haley even want it that much?

This was stupid! Were they just gonna run for it now?

Cedric met her gaze with a grin then. Something shifted in his eyes and he seemed to make a decision.

"The Cup," he began, "You should take it."

What? That was not at all what Haley had expected.

"What...Why would you say that?" she whispered.

Cedric shrugged.

"Shouldn't we just… run for it or something?" She asked, shrugging as well.

Cedric looked her up and down, then he chuckled.

"Now that would be fair."

He was right of course. Haley was much shorter than him and also she was a girl…

"I can't just take it though," she argued, "didn't you say you weren't gonna let me win so easily?"

Cedric looked to the ground. "That was before... Anyway, you helped me with the dragon. I would have been out after the First Task, if it weren't for you."

"And you helped me with the Second Task, so we're even."

"But-"

"But _what_?"

"I can't take it, okay!"

"Why _not_?" They were almost shouting now. Haley didn't understand why he was being so stubborn. Then something occurred to her.

"Is this… because I'm a girl?"

Cedric's eyes widened. So, she was right? For some reason this made her angry.

"Am I right?" She asked, "Are you trying to be a gentleman right now?"

"I-"

"Would you do the same if it were Fleur?" There was a pause, where they silently watched one another. Then he raised his eyebrows in a challenging way.

"Maybe."

Haley scoffed, her eyes narrowing.

"Fine. I'll take it," she retorted, feeling like a defiant child.

The Gryffindor made all of two steps in the direction of the Cup. Then the spider attacked her.

It was as big as a bear and there were so many hairy legs. She wanted to scream but her voice was stuck somewhere in her throat. All of a sudden the ground disappeared beneath her and she was lifted several metres into the air. One long leg held her around her waist, the other was wrapped around her throat. Haley panicked. She couldn't breathe and the fangs looked so sharp from up close! Haley looked to the ground. There was something white lying in the grass. A folded.. piece of paper? It must have fallen out of her robe pocket. _Don't die_.

Haley took a deep breath. This wouldn't be the end. She spotted Cedric below, with his wand raised.

She nodded at him, hoping he wouldn't accidentally hit her.

Then she drew her own wand, pointed it at the spider and shouted," _Stupify! Impedimenta! Stupify!_ "

The spider was hit by the combined force of her and Cedric's hexes. Haley felt the grip around her waist and throat slacken. Then she fell and unfortunately landed right on her ankle.

"Are you okay?" Cedric asked worriedly.

_It must be broken_ , Haley thought grimacing, _it wouldn't hurt that much otherwise_.

"Haley?" The boy asked, kneeling beside her.

"No," she gasped, "I don't think I can walk. Just – take this stupid Cup and get it over with."

"No!" He insisted, "How could I take the Cup _now_?"

"I can't even _walk_!"

"I'll help you then!"

Haley watched him for a moment, speechlessly. Why was he this stubborn? He's not gonna back down, she realized. Fine. It was time for a compromise.

"Okay, you can help me," she amended, "But… we're taking it together."

"Great, let me just- wait – what?"

"I said we're taking it together."

Cedric wasn't the only one that was stubborn around here. He looked at her in surprise. Then he grinned.

"Okay. Can you stand up?"

"Wait! It has to be somewhere here..." Haley looked around in the grass for the note. Where was it? Where-?

"Are you looking for this?"

Cedric held a little crumpled piece of paper up to her face. Her note. She reached for it, but Cedric snatched it away. He unfolded it. The two words were still there.

"'Don't die'," Cedric read out, "what's that? A lucky charm?"

"Hey, give it back," she demanded, reaching for the note.

"Here," Cedric gave it back, holding up his arms in defence, "It's just a note. And who writes that fancy anyway?"

Haley shook her head, slipping the paper inside her pocket again.

"I don't know," she whispered, wrapping her fingers around the little paper. Well, technically anyway. She did have her suspicions. That _D._ She could swear it was the same _D_ that she had seen on that other note. _DM._ But if that was the case why did she feel this protective of it? Why did it feel like a… lucky charm? Why would… he have sent it in the first place?

Haley shook her head. It was definitely not the right moment for these kinds of thoughts.

"So… the Cup?" She looked expectantly up at Cedric.

"Right," Cedric said, "Should I carry you or-?"

"No!"

Cedric raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"I mean – it's fine if you lend me your arm."

Cedric chuckled and watched her amusedly.

"What?" Haley snapped. She wouldn't let herself be carried like some… damsel in distress.

The boy shook his head in amusement and after helping her stand, offered her his arm.

They somehow made it to the Cup. The whole situation seemed incredibly surreal. Haley wondered if Cedric felt it, too. Was the audience watching them right now? In a few seconds all of this would finally be over. She looked to Cedric, who was looking at her, too.

"Ready?" He asked smiling at her, his eyes were filled with determination and excitement. He looked so… _happy_.

"Ready," Haley answered. She couldn't help but return his smile and let herself be infected by the giddy tension of the moment. They started counting.

"One!"

"Two!"

"THREE!"

Simultaneously they reached for the Cup. Then for the second time that day the ground beneath Haley disappeared and she was sucked into a swirl of colours.

…

…

...

After that night, nothing was the same. The whole castle seemed… eerily quiet. Solemn. It was almost as if the castle herself was mourning the death of one of her own.

Haley never got to find out who had sent her the note. She was almost sure she knew who it was from anyway. Whenever she saw Malfoy in the hallways, she pretended not to see him. He didn't make an effort to talk to her again, either. They didn't even fight! It was fine, though. There was enough on Haley's mind anyway. Things that were more important. And after everything that went on during the third task… she didn't know what to think any more. Mostly she was grateful that she had come out of the tournament alive. Unlike... _Cedric_...

Most of the remaining weeks until the holidays, Haley spent with Ron and Hermione. To her, these pre-summer weeks were precious. For who could say when the storm would finally hit, destroying every little bit of calm that happened to be in its way?

…

...

...

_Of course, back then, her life hadn't seemed easy. Her past self had been suffering from terrible nightmares. She had seen her friend die. She had woken up screaming almost every night. Still, there had been moments – no matter how tiny – that balanced out the bad. That lessened the pain._

_She could almost remember these feelings. That's what being alive was about, right? Feeling something._ Now _she didn't remember what it was like to feel happy… carefree… loved…_

_Pain. Sadness. Anger. She didn't even remember what that felt like. And there had been plenty of that in her short life. All she felt now was emptiness. There was an all-consuming hole inside her. And she didn't know or care how to fill it._

_..._

_..._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! So this is it! The final chapter! I'm sure you didn't expect it to be like this... I just recently finished my re-read of the fourth book and I was so sad about Cedric's death that I had to give him some extra screen time here... Hope you're not disappointed that nothing else happened. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the chapter or the story as a whole :)
> 
> Aaaaannd more fun stuff will happen soon. In the sequel. Which might be called "Songs of Today". We'll see. It will take place in fifth year. There will be more fun Haley/Draco stuff. I might post sneak peeks and stuff about that on my tumblr (tumblr.schreibfeather.com). So you can follow that.  
> Or you can go read my sidefics: A little Braver (Neville-centric) and Knight In A Shining Helmet (Songs of Yesterday from Draco's POV)  
> Title is from Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day (who else :D)
> 
> Well then... see you in the sequel :) I'll try not to take too long posting that. And thank you so much for reading and enjoying my little fic. That along with reviews and kudos means so much to me!
> 
> Have fun people!  
> Feather


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